Truth Is
by lefthandedrn
Summary: Rachel ended things with Finn 5 years ago after growing tired of fighting with her parents' acceptance of him. He had no ambition, no purpose in his life. She was away at college, working toward her parents' dream of her becoming a lawyer and joining her Dad's highly successful law firm. But she still longed for Finn Hudson, still loved him deeply and probably always would.
1. Chapter 1

Truth Is

A/N: The title and story line is taken from the song "Truth Is" by Fantasia. (I don't care for her songs or voice but after hearing this song, this story came to me.) I hope you enjoy it. It will be short, probably 3 Chapters. And, as all of my fanfiction stories are, this is for our Cory Monteith and the beautiful character he played to the hilt, Finn Hudson.

Glee characters belong to Glee and any songs and lyrics mentioned belong to the singers/songwriters.

Chapter One

Rachel rounded the corner, heading toward the large park downtown on Westmoreland Drive. She loved jogging in this park because of the beautiful scenery along the jogging path. She enjoyed her early morning runs, even on this already hot and humid July morning. As she entered the park, she smiled at the passing joggers and walkers as she picked up her pace.

Her office was closed for the next four days due to the upcoming July 4th holiday. She planned on finishing her morning run, stop for an iced coffee and then head back to her apartment. She had just downloaded Gone Girl to her Kindle and was looking forward to relaxing on her couch and reading it.

Rachel Berry had finished Duke Law School last December. She took a month off after that to decompress before clamping down and studying for her bar exam for 3 months. She passed her bar exam in May and finished her review with the North Carolina Board last month. She then took several weeks off to visit old college friends. She then moved back home to join her father's law firm. Rachel was proud to be an associate corporate attorney for Berry, Patterson and Banks. Hopefully, after proving herself as a corporate lawyer, she was going to become a partner in the future.

As she rounded the far end of the park, she headed back toward her apartment as she passed by a row of cafes. Looking at her watch, she noted it was almost 8am. In about an hour, the heat would be unbearable. She made a mental note to head to her parent's pool this afternoon for a swim. Looking up from her watch, she noticed a tall figure standing in the doorway of one of the cafes. Their eyes met and Rachel realized she was staring into a pair of very familiar amber eyes.

"Rachel?" The sound of his voice caused her to stop immediately. Frozen, she couldn't move or respond. She never dropped her gaze at the 6'4" handsome man staring back at her from across the street. They both stood there, staring at each other for moments, or was it hours?

Shaking her head, taking her out of her trance, Rachel finally crossed the street. As she got closer to him, she noticed he was smirking, that gorgeous half-smile that had caused Rachel many a restless night over the years. That smile, those dimples, those amber eyes. Rachel had fallen in love with all of him at the age of 15 and never stopped.

"Finn Hudson," she breathed out. She couldn't believe he was standing there after all these years. They immediately embraced each other, Rachel taking in that familiar Finn smell. Damn, he still smells the same! And, it still makes her head spin.

Suddenly she pulled back, remembering how sweaty she was from her run. "Oh, I'm sorry, Finn," she apologized. She looked up at him as they broke their embrace. She had to admit, the years had only made Finn that much more handsome. His body was sleeker, toned, making him seem to be that much more taller than she remembered. He had always towered over her 5'3" frame. But Rachel was also remembering how it made her feel so safe and so loved everytime he used to gather her into one of his wonderful hugs.

Finn grabbed both her hands into his one. "God Rachel, you look good. Still beautiful," Finn said as he squeezed her hands in his, never dropping his gaze.

Rachel instinctly reached up to try to tuck her hair back into her sloppy ponytail. "Yeah, right Finn," she said, playfully hitting him on the arm with her now freed hands. "All sweaty with my hair a mess. No makeup. I'm sure I'm just a knockout." They both awkwardly laughed, easing some of the tension in the air.

"So Finn," Rachel continued, looking up at him again, "what brought you back to town? Last I heard, you were traveling, seeing the world."

Finn stuck his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "Well, I have traveled some. I've been working on a cruise ship. It's fun but I'm home for a while now." Rachel raised her eyebrows out of curiosity. "Well," he continued, "at least for the summer. I'm sticking around for a while to help Mom out." There was sadness in his eyes.

"Oh, Finn. I'm sorry. I completely forgot. I heard that your Dad died last year." She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks, Rach." There goes that nickname he always had for her. She never allowed any of her other boyfriends to call her that. That was something special between her and Finn. She watched him take in a breath. His smile returned. "So," he continued, "what brings you back here?"

"Well," she said, looking down briefly. This was a touchy subject for them. "I finished my degree, passed the bar and now I work for my Dad's firm," Rachel replied, smiling, a smile that didn't quite reflect in her eyes. She noticed a look cross over Finn's face briefly. Sadness? Hurt? "So, here I am. I've been back about a month."

"Really?" replied Finn. "Well, that was always your plan, wasn't it?" He looked her directly in the eye, sort of daring her to disagree. He then cleared his throat. "Well, anyway. I've gotta run, Rachel. I have a few more stops to make." He pulled his keys out of his pocket. "Nice seeing you, though."

Rachel was disappointed. She wanted to talk longer. She wanted to find out more about what his life was like. Was he married, did he have children, a girlfriend? Was he happy? She placed her hand on his arm and looked up at him. "I'll tell you what, Finn. Why don't we meet for lunch? I would like to catch up on things. What do you say? That is, if you don't have other plans."

"No, not really. I think I'll finish up with what I need to do by noon. Why don't we meet up at..." he looked at his watch, "say, around 1:00?"

"That sounds perfect," Rachel smiled. "Where do you want to meet?

Finn smiled, "What about Mack's on Freedale? Still has the best burgers in town."

"That sounds good, Finn. That will give me..." Rachel paused. "Wait. Mack's is still open?" Finn smiled and nodded. "Wow! I loved going there. Hmmm, I can just taste their french fries."

"Yeah, we had our first date there, remember?" Finn asked, putting his hand on her shoulder, burning the bare skin where his hand touched.

She then looked up at him, her heart pounding in her chest. "Oh, how could I forget?" she answered. He then dropped his hand and put it back into his pocket. "So," Rachel said, hoping he didn't pick up on the tremor in her voice. "I better go shower and change." She then pulled Finn down for another hug.

"I'll see you at 1, Rach," he whispered in her ear. She then smiled a big smile as they separated again.

"Bye, Finn," she said as she turned and headed toward her apartment, her heart pounding in her chest as she was quite aware that Finn was watching her walk away.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rachel let the water pulsating down from the shower head hit the sore muscles of her shoulders. Her run this morning had produced quite the surprise. Finn Hudson. Finn Hudson. All of the long-buried feelings she had for him were front and center now, filling her with emotions and memories that she had tried to suppress these past years.

5 years ago...

Finn and Rachel were sitting by the pool. She lifted her head from his chest as they shared one of the chaise lounge chairs. "Finn, you know I love you so much." He leaned in to kiss her softly but she pushed him away gently. He had been trying to get her away from the subject they had been talking about since she had come home for the summer. He needed to make a decision about his future and she wasn't going to let him delay it any longer. "No, Finn. That's not going to work this time."

She then sat up on the side of the chair with Finn wrapping his arms around her hips.

"I'm working my butt off in school so I can come back here and have a career, Finn. A career. Do you even know what that means?" Rachel said to Finn, frustrated with his unwillingness to even talk about their future.

"Rachel, yes I know what that means." He was getting angry with her insistence on staying on this subject. "I know I want to travel. I want to see places and cities besides this one. Greensboro is a wonderful town. And I want to come back here permanently one day and live here with you. Buy a house, have lots of children. But I don't know what I want to do for a living right now, Rach."

"But, Finn. You are 20 years old. You have spent the last 2 years we have been out of school doing what? Working as a bartender. A bartender, Finn."

"What the fuck is wrong with that, Rachel?! Yelled Finn.

"What's wrong with that? Bartender is a job, Finn. It's not a career." She threw her towel at him, standing beside the chair. "You need a career to have a family, Finn."

"Oh, now I'm not good enough for you. Well, let's just lay it all out there, Rachel! You have known how I feel since high school, Rach. I don't want to go to college. I don't want to be a doctor, a lawyer or a fucking accountant just to please your parents! That's just not me, Rachel. I can't be closed in an office day in and day out. You knew this. Why is it such a big fucking deal all of a sudden?" Finn stood up and pulled his shorts on over his swim trunks.

"It's a big fucking deal because my family thinks I'm wasting my time on you! You're a 20 years old drifter, Finn. No ambition, no goals, just drifting through life. Life isn't just one continuous party, Finn. You have to make decisions, plans, goals. Do something with your life."

"I am Rachel. It's just not what you and your almighty parents want."

"Well, my 'almighty' parents are right. And you know what else they got right? I'm wasting my time on you! I'm through, Finn. I can't take this anymore." She now had tears running down her face. Ever since they had graduated, she couldn't get Finn to make plans for his future. Here it was 2 years later and he still couldn't see things her way. No more. It hurt her to end things with him but he had to be forced to grow up.

"You know what Rachel?" he growled at her. "You don't have to 'take' anything from me anymore. I love you but maybe that's just not enough. Not enough for you! Not enough for your precious Mom and Dad."

"You're right," she said, turning away from him so he couldn't see the tears. "I want you to go. Go! Travel, find yourself or do whatever the hell you want. .done!"

With that, Rachel ran into the house before she changed her mind and ran back to him, begging him to forgive her like she had done so many times before. Not this time.

She ran up to her bedroom and slammed the door. Then she went to her bedroom window, with tears running down her face, she watched the boy she loved so, so much walk to his car with his head down. With her body trembling with hurt and pain but with stubborn determination, she watched his car until it was out of site. She then fell onto her bed, sobbing.

Back to the present...

And that was the last she saw of him until this morning. Rachel turned the shower off, grabbed a towel and walked into her bedroom. She put on her robe, sitting on the side of her bed to dry her hair.

She and Finn had had a passionate relationship since they decided to date after meeting each other when he was barely 16 and she was 3 months from turning 16. They had loved each other deeply and completely. And the years after their breakup had been very painful for her. She had decided to dedicate herself to her studies, graduating magna cum laude.

She had dated several guys over the last 5 years. The longest lasting 6 whole months. She never could get past the kissing stage with them, though. She found with the last guy she dated, she would laugh when appropriate, smile when needed, kiss him at the correct times. Then she would always end up in her apartment alone each night, thinking about Finn. Finn's laugh, Finn's smile, Finn's touch. She loved him so much and she just conceited to the fact that no one else would ever have her heart. He was just it for her.

Sighing, she pulled on her favorite white sundress, pulling her hair up into a high ponytail. Finn probably was married or had a girlfriend by now, anyway. This was just a friendly lunch, to get reacquainted with each other. Nothing more. Grabbing her keys and bag, Rachel headed toward her car. Why did the thought of Finn having someone else besides her make her so sad.

Starting her car, she put on her RayBan sunglasses and headed toward the restaurant. Well, this summer they could at least work on rebuilding their friendship. If that's all Finn had to offer her, then she would just have to accept it.


	2. Chapter 2

Truth Is

A/N: Thanks to all for the overwhelming response to this story. Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it. And, I'm "pulling an Allie". I had said only 3 chapters but after the things I heard about Glee's finale (I don't watch Glee since Season 3), I needed more chapters. And, anyone that writes Finchel know that Finn and Rachel sometimes take you different places than you originally intended. This entire fanfiction is from Rachel's POV, by the way. I have never done this before so bear with me.

Glee characters belong to Glee and any songs and lyrics mentioned belong to the singers/songwriters.

Chapter Two

Rachel looked at the clock on the dashboard of her car. 11:50am. She was really early for her 1pm lunch date with Finn. She had time to stop and run a few quick errands. Pulling up to the Friendly Mall, she parked and then rechecked her makeup before entering the mall. She walked into her favorite women's clothing store, heading straight to the swimwear section. She wanted a new bikini to wear Monday to her parents' July 4th cookout. Especially since she had decided to invite one Finn Hudson. She wanted something to blow him away.

After picking out a red string bikini, she headed for the register. As she stood in line, she flipped through the earring display, thinking about how well the red bikini would look next to her olive skin.

"Rachel Berry. What a surprise," she heard coming from behind her. She turned toward the voice, seeing a familiar face.

"Greg," she said, seeing the blonde-headed guy smiling down at her. She smiled weakly back at him. Why had she ever agreed to even go out with him? She had never been attracted to blonde guys, especially those with cold-looking blue eyes. She had always preferred brown hair, brown eyes, amber brown in particular. Warm amber, almond shaped...She turned to hug Greg briefly. "Surprised to see you in here. A woman's store?"

"Oh," laughed Greg. "Don't get any ideas. I'm just looking for a gift for my sister's birthday. She likes this store and I thought I would look for a blouse or something for her."

"Oh, don't worry, Greg," said Rachel, waving him off. "I've seen lots of men in here. Looking lost, but shopping none the less."

He then looked down at her purchase. "Oh, I would love to see you in that. For the 4th, I presume?"

"Yeah," Rachel answered, throwing her purchase on the counter for the cashier to ring up. "I didn't really like my old swimsuits. So I thought I would get something festive."

"Would that be all, Miss?" asked the cashier, looking at Rachel. She nodded as the cashier scanned her card. Grabbing her bagged purchase, she stepped out of line and turned toward Greg.

"So, Greg. It was nice seeing you again. Maybe I'll see you at the next staff meeting."

"Oh, come on Rachel," said Greg, placing his hand on her waist making Rachel cringe slightly. "I thought maybe I would see you before that." He stepped closer to her. "What about dinner tonight?"

"Sorry, Greg," responded Rachel, stepping back. "I have plans already. Besides, you know we decided to just be friends. No more dating."

"I know but this could just be dinner. Between friends? What do you say? There's this new supper club that everyone has been..."

"Greg," Rachel said, shaking her head. "No. It just didn't work with us, remember?" She stepped towards the door. "And I do have plans, remember?" She saw the disappointed look on his face. "But it was nice seeing you and you take care." She reached up and kissed him on the cheek, turned and headed to her car.

Driving toward Mack's to meet Finn, Rachel felt bad about turning down Greg. He was so very sweet and kind. He would make some woman a wonderful boyfriend. Just not her. She had gone out with him on 3 dates. He worked with her at her father's firm and was a very promising young attorney. Her parents really like him. He fits into their idea of who Rachel should be dating. He had money, was a hard worker, super intelligent and nice looking. But he just wasn't right for her. He just wasn't...Finn Hudson.

After 5 years, Rachel's dating life had faltered because she had subconsciously compared each and every guy to Finn. They just didn't make her feel the way Finn did. Ever since she first saw him in her 10th grade English class, Finn Hudson had captured her heart. He could always make her laugh, soothed her when she was sad. Just his presence, his smell, his voice could always make her world so much brighter. None of the guys she had attempted a relationship with since him could even come close to making her feel the way Finn could and still does make her feel. Rachel sighed, remembering how her life was when they were together. She pulled up to the restaurant where she was meeting Finn. 12:55 exactly. Getting out of her car, she headed into the restaurant.

Looking around the restaurant, she noticed Finn already sitting in a back corner booth, looking over a menu. As she approached him, he looked up, smiling. Damn! She was still amazed at how handsome he was. She still found it hard to believe that such an attractive man used to belong to her.

She smiled back at him. "Hi, Finn." She bent down and kissed his cheek which left both of them blushing. She took her seat just as the waitress brought her a menu.

"Hi, Rach," he greeted her with a smirk on his face. Damn, he knows he is killing her. He's doing it on purpose. "I don't know why I'm looking over this menu. It hasn't changed much in all these years."

"Well," said Rachel, forcing herself to look away from Finn and down at her menu. "It's been awhile since I've been here so pardon me if I take a look."

"Rachel," he said, forcing her to look over at him again. "You notice anything about this booth we are in?" He had that strange look in his eyes again. The same look she had caught glimpses of this morning.

Rachel looked around slowly, then smiled. "This is the booth we always sat at when we..."

"When we were dating," he finished for her. "Yes. I just noticed it when I automatically sat here." He smiled at her then looked back at his menu. "I think I'll have...the double Mack cheeseburger and a chocolate shake." He then closed his menu. "What about you?"

"Hmmm," Rachel placed her hand under her chin as if she were thinking. "Oh...I'll have the super order of fries and a Cheerwine."

Finn chuckled. "That didn't take long. Same orders. Same table." Rachel looked up at him longingly. He returned her stare before signaling for the waitress.

After they placed their orders, he turned to her. "So, Rachel. Tell me what you have been up to the last 5 years."

"Well, after we...I mean..."

"After you dumped me?" He then looked at her strangely, causing Rachel to look down. "Go on," he said, his voice soft.

"After we broke up I spent the rest of the summer helping Dad out at the office. I went to the beach for a few weeks with some friends from school, you know, to get my mind off of things." Rachel started playing with her napkin to keep from looking up at Finn. She could feel his gaze on her. She cleared her throat and continued. "And then I headed back to school for my Junior year." She was interrupted by the waitress who brought their drinks. Rachel thanked her and then continued. "You know, nothing exciting."

"I heard you graduated with super high honors," Finn added. Rachel just nodded, starting to feel nervous. "I knew you would. You were always so proud of doing well. Doing your best. Being your best." He took a sip of his shake. "Rachel Berry. Always focused. Always reaching for that ideal life."

Rachel looked up at him, her eyes now shining. "Finn," she said sadly. "I didn't...I never intended..."

He then reached over and touched her hand. Was that compassion in his eyes? "I'm sorry, Rach. Go on."

"Anyway," continued Rachel, taking a deep breath, trying to shake the tension in her voice. "I applied to Duke law and was fortunate to get in. I really just buried myself in my studies for those years I was there. No big deal." Rachel pulled her hand away just as the waitress brought their food. Thanking her, she started digging into her fries.

"Umm. These are still sooo good," she said, smiling weakly at Finn. He smiled back at her as they ate in a brief silence.

Then Finn looked at her, a serious look on his face. "Any serious relationships?" Rachel froze. That's what he was getting at?

"Finn," Rachel begged, looking sadly into his glaring eyes. He then reached over and took one of her fries, biting into it.

"Boyfriends? Engagements? Husbands?" he continued. "I'm sure there were a lot to pick from, Rachel. Duke law school? A lot of motivated, ambitious, goal-oriented guys to choose from there, of all places. Don't you think, Rachel?" He looked up at her again, his eyebrows raised.

Okay, she thought. She deserved that. He was still harboring some anger. Still hurt by what she said to him back then. What she had done to them 5 years ago. "Well, I dated. I dated a few guys." She saw a brief glimpse of hurt cross his face, then it was gone. "But...but they weren't all from Duke Law School, Finn."

"Oh really?" He looked down at his food again. "Any of them serious?"

"No," she said in a low voice, shaking her head.

"What was that, Rachel?"

She looked up at him. "I said, no. None of them were serious." She put her hands in her lap. Suddenly, her food tasted like plastic, choking her as she swallowed. "Look Finn, over those 5 years, I dated maybe 5-6 guys. Nothing serious."

This seemed to peak his interest even further. "Why was that Rachel?"

"I don't know, Finn." He was making her nervous with this interrogation. Which one of them was the lawyer here? "They just didn't interest me. I guess I just...I just was not interested enough to continue seeing them." She then looked at him. "I just wanted to concentrate on my studies." None of them were you, Finn! She wanted to say to him. But she held back.

Taking a sip of her soda, Rachel took a deep breath. She was going to ask Finn what she had wanted to know since she saw him earlier. "So, what about you?"

"What about me?" He asked, finishing the last of his milkshake.

"What have you been up to the past 5 years?" Her heart started pounding in her chest, afraid of hearing what she didn't really want him to say.

"Well, after you...well after we...we went our separate ways, I left a few weeks later and moved to California with Kurt. My parents, especially my Mom, were nervous about him being all the way across the country by himself so they persuaded me to go with him. I didn't really have anything keeping me here." He looked over at Rachel before continuing. "So, we got an apartment together. He went to school and I found a job as a bartender at a local tavern. I really enjoyed it, learned a lot. Got my California bartender license, even."

"Oh Finn," Rachel exclaimed, putting her hands together. "I always wanted to visit California. From the pictures I've seen, it looks like it's beautiful out there. Is it as nice as they say?"

"Yeah, nice weather, lots to do. It's just so different from North Carolina." She saw another hint of sadness cross his face. Then again, it was gone. "So, I met these guys, Puck and Tim where I worked and we hit it off pretty good. We became pretty close friends. All three of us had always wanted to travel so we went and applied to this cruise line as bartenders. Kurt was doing fine in school. Being there a year he had his own friends and even wanted to move in with this guy. So Puck, Tim and I moved to Long Beach after we got the jobs. The cruise line docked from there. So we have been doing that ever since, you know, the last couple of years."

"That's fantastic, Finn. I can tell you really like it." She could see the way his eyes lit up as he talked about it.

"Yeah. We got to travel to so many countries. Experience different cultures, people," he said.

"I bet you got to see a lot of exciting sites."

"We did. I started really getting interested in mixology and studied the different liquors and other spirits. I would go visit the different wineries and vineyards if we docked there." He shrugged his shoulders. "I learned a lot. Made real good money." He smiled at her as he turned, signaling the waitress for their check.

As he turned back around, Rachel took a deep breath and asked the main question she dreaded knowing the answer to: "So, what about you? Wife? Children? Fiancee'? Girlfriend?"

He smiled at her, a devious smirk on his face. He then pulled out his cell phone and started tapping on the screen. Rachel could feel her stomach clutching. Oh god, here it goes. He's getting ready to show me pictures of his wife and probably 2 kids. A girl and a boy. I bet they look just like him. I bet his wife is blonde.

He then handed the phone to Rachel. "That's Tiffany. I met her in Long Beach a little over a year ago," he said, smiling at her, a smile that didn't reach his eyes, Rachel noticed.

Rachel's hands were trembling, she was trying to control it as she handed the phone back to Finn. "She's pretty," Rachel said, trying not to let her voice give away the pain she was feeling. "Is she your wife?"

He laughed. "No way. No, I'm not married. Not engaged." Rachel let a feeling of relief fill her. "At least, not yet," Finn finished, looked Rachel directly in the eyes.

He then looked back down at his phone. "But Tiffany...she's fun. She doesn't mind that I'm away for months at a time. She doesn't even mind that I'm 'just a bartender'. (he used the air quotes). "She gets along good with my friends. She's a nice girl. I like her."

Rachel could feel her throat tightening again. She took another sip of her soda and then smiled weakly at him. "Well...well, Finn, that's good. I'm hap...happy for you." Why is my chest starting to hurt? Oh Finn. If you only knew how much you are hurting me. If you only knew how much I regret my stupid, stupid decision to break up with you.

"Well Rach, thanks." He then signed the receipt that the waitress had brought back to the table. "Look, let me see your phone." He held out his hand for it. Rachel looked up at him, curiously.

"My phone?" Rachel asked, wondering if she had heard him correctly.

"Yeah. I want to put my number in there. Maybe we can hang out some over the summer." Rachel reached in her purse and then handed him her phone. She then watched him punch in some numbers.

Maybe over the summer they could go back to being good friends. They used to really have such a good time together. Now that she knew he had a serious girlfriend and there was no hope of reconciling with him, she could at least be his friend.

She then watched as he called his cell and then cut it off. "Now, I've got your number too. We can keep in touch while I'm here." he said, handing her phone back to her. Then he rose out of his seat, reaching out to help her stand. He guided her towards the exit, placing his arm across her shoulder. Rachel automatically leaned into him as they left the restaurant and headed toward her car.

"Well Rachel, I really enjoyed that. It was nice talking with you again. And since I'm going to be here for a while, I'll touch bases with you."

"I enjoyed most of it too, Finn. Now that you have my number, promise you'll keep in touch."

"Oh, I will, Rach." He opened her car door for her. Still such a gentleman. "I've got to run. I'm helping out at this bar while I'm here this summer. I kinda know the owner and he really needs help so I'm going in tonight to help out."

"Oh, that's so nice of you," said Rachel. He then reached down and pulled her in for a hug that lasted longer than it should between just friends. But Rachel didn't mind at all. She closed her eyes and just took a deep breath, letting his smell again sooth her. Taking her back again to a time when they could just hold each other for hours, not saying a word.

Pulling back, he smiled down at her. He had really grown up. He was so much more handsome and mature. He was a strong, self-assured 25 year old now. He then bent down and kissed Rachel briefly on the lips , turned and and headed toward his car, waving goodbye as he climbed into his vehicle. Then he was gone. Rachel stood there in shock as she placed her hand to her lips that were burning from when he had lightly kissed them.

Climbing into her car, she sat there for a few minutes, not bothering to start it. What in the hell just happened? Finn had just kissed her! A light kiss but a kiss still the same. Was that his idea of teasing her? He had a girlfriend. He was in a relationship. Maybe, just maybe, he saw it as just a friendly little peck. But who in the hell kisses their 'friend' on the lips? A 'friend' who is your ex-girlfriend? An ex-girlfriend that still loves him so very much? Has loved him since she was 15 years old. Finn Hudson, you've got my heart in your hands and something tells me you know it, too.

Rachel started her car and headed home, everything that Finn had said and done during their lunch date running through her mind. As she pulled into her parking space, her cell phone buzzed, letting her know she had a text. Pulling it out of her bag, she hoped it wasn't Greg still bugging her about a date. She didn't have plans for tonight but she still didn't want to go out with him again. Looking at her screen, she saw it was from Finn. What was this man trying to do to her? Opening the text, she saw that the message was really a picture. Opening the attachment, her mouth fell open. It was a picture of her and Finn. They were sitting on a park bench, she in his lap. Their foreheads were touching, looking into each others eyes. Anyone looking at this picture could see the deep love these two people shared. Finn had added a comment at the bottom:

"still on my phone after all this time. What happened to these two people, Rach?"

Rachel held the phone against her chest as she allowed the tears to fall. She still loved him so so much and she hated every day, every minute that they had been apart. She hated how she had hurt him. She had only wanted him to do more with his life. And she had lost him as a result of it. As a result of being stubborn. Being so easily manipulated by her parents and friends. Convincing her that it was the best thing for both of them. Why had she been so stupid and broke up with him? Let others make decisions and choices for her? Decisions and choices that has caused them both so much hurt and pain. God! If she could just go back! She laid her head on the steering wheel and cried silently.

After sitting there a few more minutes, she slowly walked up to her apartment door. She entered the quietness and solitude of her home. Walking into her bedroom, she placed her keys in her bag and hung it on the desk chair. Sitting on the side of her bed, she stared at the picture Finn had just sent her. Wiping away her tears, she decided to reply.

-I don't know, Finn. Do you think we can find the answer together?-Rachel

She then laid her phone on her nightstand, climbing into bed. She felt exhausted. All of the emotions running through her had drained her physically and mentally. She quickly drifted off to sleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Beep! Beep! Beep!

What was that? Rachel slowly opened her eyes. Rolling over in bed, she grabbed her beeping cell phone from the nightstand. Yawning, she noted the time. 5:30pm. Wow! She hadn't meant to sleep so long. She then noticed she had 2 text messages and one missed call with voice mail. She decided to listen to the voice message first:

"Hi, Rachel. This is Rita. Hah! Like you wouldn't know my voice. Don't know why you're not answering since you're off today. But anyway. Calling to see if you want to go somewhere tonight. I don't know, a movie, dinner or clubbing. Whatever. So, just give me a call when you get this message and we can just hang out or whatever we come up with. Talk to you later. Bye, girl."

Rachel smiled as she deleted the call. Maybe she'd have Rita over and they could watch something on pay per view and pig out on junk food. She didn't really feel like getting dressed up and going out anywhere.

She headed toward the kitchen to get something to drink while pulling up the temperature on her phone. Ugh! 98 degrees at 6pm. Nope. She definitely was not going out in that. She then pulled up her first text message as she sat on her couch sipping on her water. The first one was from her Mom:

-Thought you were coming by for a swim today. Made lemonade. Maybe tomorrow. Give me a call-Mom

Oh my. She totally forgot about going for her swim. She shot her Mom a quick text explaining how tired she was after shopping in the heat and then having lunch with a friend. (She didn't have to know that that friend was Finn Hudson. The man that her Mom had convinced her all those years ago was going nowhere fast and therefore, not worthy of her time and affections. She just did not want to go there right now.) She told her Mom she would call her in the morning because she had plans tonight with Rita. Pressing 'SEND' she moved on to her last text message:

-We still need to talk. Headed to work. Will text you later.-Finn

Damn you, Finn Hudson! What are you trying to do to me? These mixed signals are jerking me around. She texted a reply:

-Looking forward to it.-Rachel

Rachel went into her bedroom preparing to shower and put on her lounge clothes. She called Rita and they decided that she would come over around 8 for a girl's night of girlie movies, pizza,wings and beer.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rachel and Rita were laughing at the exchange between Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks' characters in 'You've Got Mail' when Rachel's cell alerted her to another text. She and Finn had been texting each other most of the night. Rachel was smiling as she typed a reply to what he had just texted.

Rita looked over at her and signed. "Whoever that is texting you sure has your attention tonight." She bent over on the couch with another futile attempt at seeing who Rachel was sexting with all night. "Is that Greg? I thought you stopped seeing him."

"Hell no! This is Finn," she replied, smiling at Rita.

"Finn? As in Finn Houston? Your high school boyfriend?" asked Rita.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "His name is Finn Hudson. And yes, the same Finn Hudson that I dated in high school. But he was more than that. Much more than just my high school boyfriend."

"Oh really? But I thought he was out of the picture a long time ago. Didn't he leave town or something?"

Rachel pulled up a picture she took of Finn earlier and showed it to Rita. "He's back in town for a while." She then pointed at him. "That's him. That's Finn Hudson. Do you think you could totally forget that?"

"Damn, Rachel! Wow! He's gorgeous. Those eyes and those dimples. He looks like he's tall, too. Such big hands and long arms."

Rachel grabbed her phone from Rita just as Rita giggled and started to comment on his fingers. "Give me my phone back," smiled Rachel. "You perv. And yes, he's tall. He's 6'4 with long arms, long fingers, and yes, long everything." She wiggled her eyebrows at Rita.

"Look who's calling somebody a perv. Skank. So, are you two hooking back up?" asked Rita, reaching for a slice of pizza.

"I wish. I saw him today for the first time in 5 years and we met for lunch. We talked but he has a girlfriend in California," Rachel said, sadly. "Looks like the most I can hope for is friendship. And only for the summer. Then he's going back to Long Beach and to his girlfriend." She sighed as she laid her phone on her table.

"Well, the way you two have been going back and forth all night, I'd say you still have a small fire for each other."

"I do. I still really care for him. Never stopped. But he seems to only want to be friends while he's home so I'll just take what I can get."

"And he's going back to California?" asked Rita.

"Well, he said he was here to help his Mom out for the summer. His Dad died last year and he wants to spend some time with her. He travels a lot for his job and lives in Long Beach. That's also where his brother and his girlfriend lives. But, I'm going to enjoy the time we have together before he leaves." She lets out another sigh.

"Well, good luck because he sure looks like a keeper. Why did you two break up?"

"Stupid me. I was young and stupid, listening to others. So..." She was interrupted by another text.

-What are you and Rita doing now? Talking about me?-Finn

-You are so vain, Finn Hudson. You wish. Don't you have work to do? You're gonna get fired.-Rachel

-Can't be fired. Meant to tell you, you looked really pretty today. Thus, the kiss.-Finn

-Thanks. For the compliment and the kiss. Get back to work.-Rachel

-Boohoo. I will. Just one thing I want you to know: "_**ti amo ancora**_"-Finn

What? What the hell does that mean?

-Finn? What is that? French? Spanish? Latin? Come on, give me a hint at least.-Rachel

Rachel waited for a response from Finn. Nothing. After a few minutes, she slammed her phone down in frustration. "Prick. He thinks it's so funny to play these games."

"What's wrong? Romeo make you mad?" asked Rita, looking up from the movie.

Rachel showed Rita the text with the mystery quote at the end. "What language is that?"

Rita shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I took Spanish like umpteen years ago. Don't recognize any of that." She turned back to the movie.

Rachel let out a frustrated moan. Finn Hudson, you won't get the best of me with your little games. I'm going to find out what you are talking about if it kills me. As the closing credits of the movie rolled across the TV screen, Rachel snuggled under the other end of the afghan she shared with Rita, her eyes slowly closing as she drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Truth Is

A/N: Sorry this Chapter took so long to finish but, life as it is, waits for no one. Hope you enjoy it. Next Chapter will be up in a few days. Only two more to go then a short epilogue. Thanks for reading.

Glee characters belong to Glee and any songs and lyrics mentioned belong to the singers/songwriters.

Chapter Three

As Rachel attempted to stretch out her legs she bumped against someone else's leg. Startled, she opened one eye. Oh, Rita. They had both fell asleep on the couch last night, watching movies. She reached over to check the time on her cell phone. 8:20am.

Rachel threw back the afghan that she had been using to cover her during the night. Yawning, she stood up and stretched, then headed for the bathroom. Stopping by the mirror, she frowned at her disheveled appearance. Whoa, how much did she drink last night?

Yawning again, she used the toilet and then brushed her teeth. Walking back into the living room, she shook Rita to wake her up. "Rita. Rita, come on. Time to rise and shine."

Moaning, Rita uncovered her head. "What time is it?" she asked.

"Almost 8:30 in the morning. Come on. Let's get some breakfast and then get dressed" Rachel said, heading toward her kitchen.

"Well, I'm going to eat and then I've got to head home. I'll shower and change there," Rita said, following Rachel into the kitchen. "I'm suppose to meet my sister around noon. We are going to the grocery store to buy stuff for our cookout Monday."

They poured a bowl of cereal and Rachel handed her a glass of juice. "Coffee is making." Rachel then sat down, sipping on her juice.

"What are you doing today, Rachel?" asked Rita, sleepily.

"Well, nothing really planned. I think I'll go over to Mom and Dad's later to swim and maybe help out with anything they need done for Monday." Rachel stood up and poured two cups of coffee.

"Oh," said Rita, peaking over the top of her steaming cup of coffee. "No plans with Finn?"

"No," Rachel said, sadly. "I haven't heard from him since he sent that crazy text last night." Rachel then lifted up her phone, looking at the phrase again. '_**ti amo ancora**__**'. **_"I took French in high school and had plenty of Latin exposure in college but I don't recognize any of this," Rachel said, frustrated.

"Well, maybe your Dad will know," replied Rita, trying to give her friend some hope.

Rachel then laid her phone back down. "Yea, maybe so," she said, her mind drifting back briefly to last night's texting with Finn. "Well, anyway, you want a refill on the coffee?" she said standing up. "I need like 10 cups to get going this morning." She then poured refills for them both and sat back down."Why did you make me drink 3 beers, anyway Rita?"

Rita laughed. "_Made_ you? You were sucking them down pretty good on your own." She then stood up. "Well, I've gotta run," Rita said as she quickly drained her coffee cup. Standing, she hugged a still sleepy Rachel as she then headed towards the door. Grabbing her purse, she yelled back at Rachel, "I'll call you later."

Rachel said a quiet 'Bye' to the closing door. She then rose up, yawning again and picked up her phone. She wanted to talk to Finn so badly but decided that it was still a little too early to call since he worked at the club last night. So she decided to call her Mom instead.

"Hi, Mom. I'm up early so I decided to call to say sorry about yesterday."

"That's quite alright, dear. I figured you probably got tied up with other things. Are you coming over now?" asked her mother.

"Yeah. Rita just left to go home after our movie marathon last night and I thought I would come over and help out."

"Oh, that would be wonderful, Rachel," said her mother, excitedly. "There are still some things that need to be done around here in preparation for Monday's celebrations."

Rachel rolled her eyes. Her mother could be so 'southern belle' at times. "Well, I need to shower and get dressed then I'll be right over," Rachel replied, smiling into the phone at her mother's pretense. "Need anything, Mother Dear?"

"Well, I still need to pick up a few things at the liquor store but...I'll tell you what. I'll just give you the list when you get here. How's that?"

"That's fine, Mom. See you in a few and have my lemonade ready. Please?"

Her mother laughs. "Already on it, sweetheart. Bye, bye."

"Bye, Mom...oh wait, Mom."

"Yes?" asked Mrs. Berry.

"I got this text from this guy last night. We were just playing this little game back and forth" (Rachel lied) "and it had some kind of foreign phase at the end. If I text it to you, see if you can interpret it or at least tell me what language it is in."

"Or really? That is soo sweet. Greg, perhaps?" asked her mother.

"Mom, I am so_ not_ saying." Rachel knew her mother would not help if she knew it was from Finn. "Anyway, I'm sending it now and I'll see you in about an hour. Love you." Rachel smiles, hangs up with her Mom and then quickly texts her the still baffling phrase Finn had texted her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After showering and dressing, Rachel headed over to her parents house. Her parents' house was located in the exclusive Battleground area of Greensboro. All of the houses in the area were valued at a minimum of $800,000. Rachel's parents' house was 5400 sq ft and had cost $1.2 million to build 8 years ago. She knew it was worth much more now.

Finn had really been intimidated by it when they first started dating. But after a while, it was like a second home to him. They spent a lot of their date nights (and not so much date nights) in her room, talking, studying, making out. Or sitting in the family room cuddled together watching movies and eating popcorn, pizza or listening to music and making out. During the summer, they swam and hung out by the pool, sharing a chaise lounge and just snuggling together and just listening to each other breathe as their heartbeats sync together in one rhythm.

Finn had gotten used to the stares and the formal way her parents treated him. He knew that she loved him and he loved her and unfortunately, her parents came with the package. She constantly reminded her parents to not mistreat him or they would spend their time at his house only where she was more than welcomed. That kept her parents in line for quite some time.

The memories of how inseparable and so much in love she and Finn had been as she walked through her parents' house caused her to smile, sadly.

Walking into the kitchen, she spotted her mother sitting at the kitchen counter. She looked up as Rachel walked towards her. "Oh, hi sweetheart," her mother greeted, smiling up at her. Rachel gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, amazed at how her mother looked so put together every time she saw her, day or night. She was dressed in a powder blue sundress, hair pulled up into a french roll with light makeup on.

"I was just going over my liquor list again," her mother continued, "to make sure I have everything your father requested. He's going to play bartender for the cookout Monday. He thought it would be fun." She smiled brightly at Rachel. _Was that a cut on Finn?_ How ironic that her Dad was going to '_play_' bartender when that's what Finn did for a living and her parents looked down on him for it. _Was she being too sensitive?_ Maybe her mother was just trying to be her adorable, cute southern self. Rachel smiled back at her, giving her the benefit of the doubt. Plus, she didn't want her mother to think that she had rattled her if she was trying to make a cut at Finn. He was still a sensitive subject around there because her parents knew that Rachel still cared deeply for Finn and had regretted every day that she had let him go. Even if it was for her own still secret good reasons.

Her mother pulled off her reading glasses and invited Rachel to sit down beside her. "First, I'm pouring me some lemonade," Rachel says, walking over to the refrigerator. 

"Did you and Rita have fun last night?" asked her mother.

"Oh, yes," answered Rachel, taking a long sip of the lemonade. "Hmmm. So good, Mom." She then sat down beside her Mom. "We stayed up half the night laughing, talking, watching movies. It's been a while since we've done something like that."

"Yea," said her mother, looking up as Rachel sat down. "You both have been so busy with exams, work and dating." She looked over at Rachel as she said that.

Rachel lowered her glass of lemonade. "Mom, don't start."

"What?" she asked, smiling at Rachel. "I didn't say if I was talking about you _or_ Rita. I was specifically implying that I noticed that about _both_ of you. I know _both_ of you have been busy." Rachel looked at her mother, knowing that she was lying through her teeth.

Her mother then cleared her throat and continued. "Speaking of which, when was the last time you've seen Greg Williams? He is so cute and..."

Rachel frowned at her mother, raising out of her seat. "Look Mom, if that's what you want to talk about, I'm leaving. Now," she frowned at her mother. She walked over to the deck and looked out, noticing her Dad talking with the pool guy.

"Rachel dear, I was just asking. Don't be so defensive. I am just wondering how that was going. You know, between you and Greg. Your father is very impressed with him as an attorney."

Rachel turned toward her mother. "Mom, stay out of my dating life," she warned. Rachel looked down at her cell as it buzzed, a smile appearing on her face._ A text from Finn_.

"Rachel," her mom's voice bringing her out of her bliss. She looked up as her mother continue. "You haven't let go of that cell phone since you got here. And now you're standing there smiling at it. What is up with you?"

"Mom, nothing is 'up with me'." She then opened the text:

_**-what are you doing? Up yet after your wild night?~Finn**_

"Rachel. Rachel!" her mom called out, trying to regain Rachel's attention. "Good news? Whatever it is, it's really putting quite the smile on your face. I haven't seen you smile like that since...oh." her mother ended, quietly.

"_Oh_ what, Mom?" Rachel said as she sent a reply to Finn:

_**-over at Mom and Dad's for a little lemonade and third degree. **_

_**She's wondering why I'm grinning like a fool and texting~Rachel**_

"Rachel, is that...is that..._Finn_, perhaps?" asked her mother, with her eyebrows raised.

Rachel looked up at her. She decided that it was time to be honest with her parents and to let them know that Finn was back in her life, at least for the summer and they would not interfere with their rekindled friendship. "Yes, it is Finn. We ate lunch together yesterday and have been talking since. We decided that we are still friends and we are going to spend time together this summer while he is here."

Her mother looked back at her with a determined look on her face. "Yes, I heard he was coming home for a while this summer. His mother told me that back in May, I think it was. She said he was coming to spend some time with her." Her mother was quiet for a while. "I hope you aren't rekindling..."

Rachel cut her off, "Mom. Listen. I love you and Dad. You have been wonderful parents to me but you have no say-so in my personal life anymore. I am 25 years old. I _date _whom I want. I _see_ whom I want. Finn and I are friends, Mother. He is a wonderful human being. He has never done _anything_ to hurt me or anyone else as I know of. Quite the opposite. I hurt _him_, Mother. I chose to break things off with him years ago but now that I have another chance to be with him, I'm taking it. I've done things so wrong in the past when it came to Finn Hudson but over these past 5 years I've come to realize that sometimes, just sometimes, what _feels_ good and right to you can _be_ good and right for you." Rachel stopped her rant, pausing to control her breathing as her mother just stared at her. Then her gaze went to Rachel's cell as it buzzed again:

_**-I wanna take you somewhere today. Are you decent right now?~Finn**_

She hurriedly texted back:

-_**Depends on where we're going. Got on shorts and a tank top. But, have to go to the liquor store for Mom~Rachel**_

"Rachel, I hope you're not getting too involved with him. After all, he lives in California and..."

"And," Rachel interrupted her, "he has a girlfriend, Mom. We are just friends. Don't get too excited."

"Oh, honey, I just don't want to see you get hurting like that, again. For a while there, I just didn't know if you were going to bounce back from him. Whether or not you were just going to drop everything and run after him. Your Father and I just thought the two of you just got too serious too fast. You were just too young and it was so hard on you when he broke up with you..."

"Mom, stop it. Did you not hear me? I broke up with _him_, not the other way around. I'm seeing Finn this summer so just get used to it." Her Mother could play the innocent as well as the best of them.

Rachel suddenly got an idea. She would show her parents once and for all. Her fingers flew across the small keyboard on her cell:

_**-why don't you come over and go to the liquor store with me and then we can head out to where you want to go.~Rachel**_

"Is he still bartending?" Her mother asked, continuing to ignore Rachel's warning. "You know, on those boats his Mom said said he was working on?"

"They're called _ships_, Mom, _cruise_ ships and yes, he really likes it, he's good at it and he makes a good living at it. He is happy doing something that _he_ decided to make a career out of."

_**Buzz!**_

_**-okay. Be there in 20 mins.~Finn**_

Rachel pumped her fist but refrained from jumping in the air, not wanting to give her mother a stroke. She loved her mother dearly but she could be such a snob at times. Her Dad was a little better, but not much.

"Well Mom, hand me your list. Finn's on his way over and seeing as if he is a _bartender_, I thought he would be a big help at the store." Rachel watched her Mom's mouth drop open, leaving her speechless as she handed Rachel the list. Rachel stuffed the list into her pocket as she turned and headed out the back door. "I'm going to speak to Dad and get his credit card to pay for all of this. I shouldn't be gone long and Mother, if I can convince Finn to come in to say hello, be nice," she warned.

"Rachel," her mother said, placing her hand to her chest in fake disbelief, "I'm always cordial to your friends, no matter _who_ they are."

"Right, Mom," Rachel replied, rolling her eyes at her mother's dramatics. "Anyway, one ugly word to Finn and you won't see me Monday. And you know you want me here to show me off to your friends," she smiled, winking at her Mom.

"Rachel!" her mother exclaimed, laughing.

Rachel then walked out to talk with her Dad. After exchanging greetings and getting his credit card, she briefed him on her status with Finn and gave him the same warning about Finn. She then reviewed the list with her Dad and walked to the front of the house to meet Finn. It felt good to finally take control of her personal life when it came to her parents. For the first time, she actually felt like she was an adult around her parents. And as far as Finn Hudson goes, it was going to stay that way. She walked around to to front of the house and sat on the steps, playing with her cell phone as she waited for Finn to pull up to the circular drive. She forget to ask if he still remembered where her parents lived but assumed he did since he hadn't asked for directions, not even an address. For some reason, this made her smile.

Within minutes Rachel watched as Finn pulled his SUV up to the circular drive. Rachel was surprised to see him driving a pricey brown Range Rover. He got out and helped her up into the passenger's seat. "Thanks," she said as she closed her door. She watched him as he went around to the driver's side, climbing in behind the wheel.

"Hi, Finn," she greeted as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. She reached around busying herself with the seat harness so he wouldn't see the blush on her cheeks, a blush that was coming from the heat of touching his face.

He turned and briefly looked at her as he slowly drove out of the driveway. He then smiled. "How do you still manage to look so fantastic yet casual?" he asked.

Rachel felt her cheeks heat up even more, just when she was calming down. Compliments from Finn always had caused her to blush like she was still 15 years old when she first fell for him. She was wearing a pair of white shorts with a matching tank top. Her hair was braided in one long braid that was thrown over her shoulder.

"Thank you, Finn. You look very handsome, yourself. "He was wearing just plain white shorts and a red graphic t shirt that really, really fit well across his broad chest. He smiled a 'thank you' as they headed toward the liquor store.

"By the way," he said, "your Mom was staring at us from the front door back there," Finn said smiling over at her. Rachel groaned.

Shaking her head, she apologized. "She can be so tacky sometimes. Just ignore her. I told her I was hanging out with you this summer and I guest she just had to see that great Finn Hudson for herself," Rachel joked. "Anyway, where are you taking me later on?" she asked excitedly.

He smiled again. "Some things about you never change. Just be patient, Rach. Nothing big. I've just got some errands to run and I thought it would be nice to have some company." He shot a quick glimpse over at her. "_Your_ company."

See. Just that little statements like that from Finn caused Rachel's heart to flutter. He always, always had had that affect on her. _A day with Finn Hudson_. Nothing could be better.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Mom, we're back!" Rachel yelled into the kitchen as she and Finn brought the cases of bottles in from the liquor store. After sitting them down on the table, she turned and saw her Mom coming in from the deck with her Dad following close behind.

"Oh good, you two are back," said her Mom, trying to look surprised. "Finn, so nice to see you again." She reached out and shook his hand.

He then shook Mr. Berry's hand. "Same here, Finn. How long has it been?" asked Mr. Berry.

"5 years, Sir. But I've come home from time to time over the years. You know, to visit my Mom, catch up on things," Finn said, looking down at Rachel. "I guess we just never ran into each other."

"I'm sure that's what it was," said Mr. Berry, noticing how Rachel and Finn were staring at each other. "How's your mother? You know since...since...your Dad and all. And please giver her our condolences, again."

"Thank you, Sir, and I will," answered Finn politely.

"And your brother?" continued Mr. Berry. "Is he doing well out in California, is it?"

"Yes sir, he's in California. Los Angeles. And he is doing great," replied Finn, finally looking up from staring at Rachel.

"So Finn," Mrs. Berry spoke up, "Does your family have big plans for the Fourth?"

"Well," replied Finn, looking again at Rachel, "my Mom usually has a pretty big cookout and we invite family, close friends and neighbors."

"Oh, that's nice. That's very nice," said Mr. Berry. "Well, as you can see from all that booze you and Rachel bought, we are going to have quite the gathering ourselves."

"Oh, Dad," interrupted Rachel, "Finn suggested a couple of nice Italian wines so we threw those in there, to."

"Oh, no problem," said her father, throwing his hands up. "Glad Finn was with you so he could add his expertise. Finn, I heard you were quite the expert now on spirits since you have been out on the great Seas mixing drinks for the travelers."

Finn's mouth flew open to answer but Rachel interceded. "Dad, that is a very fancy way of asking Finn if he still bartends on cruise ships. Yes, he does," Rachel reached over and wrapped her arm around Finn's waist as a show of support, "and he is quite good at it, may I add. He knew all of the best brands of liquors on your list so you can feel free to know that your guest Monday will be served the finest. " Rachel then looked at her parents, frowning as if daring them to say anything else on the subject or try to make Finn feel uncomfortable.

"Well," said her father, "with that being said, please if you will excuse me, I have to step out and make sure the decorations are completed and the pool is taken care of. It was so nice seeing you again, Finn." He smiled at Finn and stepped back out onto the deck, with his wife following close behind, smiling back at Finn as she left.

Rachel squeezed Finn's waist and then dropped her arm. She then turned and headed toward the staircase. "Finn, have a seat. I'll be right back and then we can leave." She started climbing the steps, talking as she went. "I need to get something from my room..."

She turned and Finn was at the bottom of the step, headed up behind her. "What's wrong?" she asked, surprised to see him following her upstairs.

"I'm coming with you. You're not leaving me here alone," he said, his eyes big. He caught up to her and stood to her, grabbing her by her waist. "They might come back in and no telling what they _really_ wanted to say to me with you gone."

Rachel laughed. "Believe me Finn, they are on their best behavior." She turned and continued up the steps. "But it's fine. Come on up." 

She entered her old bedroom and pointed to the bed for Finn to have a seat. She then started pulling out drawers, looking for her white swimsuit cover. Reaching into a lower drawer, she pulled out the knit cover.

"Uh huh. I thought I had left it here. Mom puts..." She turned and noticed Finn staring at something on her desk. "What are you looking at Finn?"

"You've kept that all this time?" He asked, pointing toward her desk lamp.

"What?" Rachel asked, turning toward where Finn was pointing.

"That. The ribbon around that lamp." He stood up and walked over to the lamp, placing his hands on the ribbon, rubbing it lightly with his fingers.

Rachel felt her throat catch, swallowing. "You remember that?"

He turned and looked at her. "Yea." He then turned back, staring at the ribbon. "Prom."

"Yea." said Rachel "Our Junior prom. You bought me a lavender wrist corsage and that was the purple ribbon that went with it." Rachel rubbed across the fainting fabric that was tied around the lamp. "The flower disappeared from our frig. My Mom swears she doesn't know what happened to it. But I kept the ribbon here." She then turned and looked at Finn. Their eyes locked. "That night was so very special to me, Finn."

He lifted his hand and stroked her shoulder. "I know. It was for me, too. We...that night, we..." His voice drifted off.

"We made love for the first time, Finn." She then stepped closer to him. She was breathing heavily, matching his deep breaths as they stood so close together that their bodies were touching as she looked up at him. If she stood on her tip toes, she could kiss him like she has wanted to since she saw him for the first time yesterday.

Then he blinked, his arm dropped and he closed his eyes. Rachel wanted him to gather her into his arms so badly. She wanted to kiss him, make love to him here and now, again. She wanted him so badly her entire body ached. Ached for him. But she had hurt him so much, she knew she couldn't have him. He belonged to someone else now.

Finn took a step back, away from her. "You ready to go?" he asked as he turned toward the door. "We need to head out."

"Yeah," she said, the disappoint evident in her voice. "We'll go out back and say goodbye to my folks and then we can leave." Descending the stairs, Rachel fought to control her emotions around Finn, something that was going to be so damn hard to do when she wanted him so badly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rachel fiddled with the radio, finally settling on a pop station. "So Finn, do you have to work tonight?"

"No, not going in until probably Tuesday," he answered.

"Wow, that long, eh?" Rachel questioned. Finn just shrugged his shoulders. "Well," replied Rachel, "I don't go back until Thursday."

"Really?" asked Finn, raising his eyebrows. Rachel nodded. "Must be nice working for your father."

"Finn, you should...I mean, you knew me better than that. I neither get nor do I take any unfair privileges working for my Dad, Mr. Smart Ass. If you must know, my paralegals are reviewing the case I have to present Thursday. It is a pretty big case. Infringement. Anyway, I do most of my case preps at home in my office. I get myself mentally prepared. before going to court, Mister."

Finn laughed. "Excuse me, Shorty. Just commenting that that's a lot of time off."

"Well, you're off, too," Rachel pouted. "So, that means, we can spend more days together," Rachel smiled over at him, hopeful that he would agree.

"That's true," he replied, much to her delight. While he idled at a stoplight. Rachel briefly admired his handsome profile.

He must have felt her eyes on him because he then turned and poked Rachel's nose. "I just help out at the bar when needed. And, the club's closed Sunday and Monday for the holiday. That's why I have all this time off, Attorney Berry." He again smiled at her before turning back.

He light changed and he continued driving just as _**Paralyzer**_ by **Finger Eleven** came on. Rachel started rolling her shoulders and snapping her fingers, singing a few lines softly:

"_**...since I thought you and me**_

_**Well I am imagining**_

_**A dark lit place**_

_**Or your place or my place"**_

Finn smiled and then joined in:

"_**Well, I'm not paralyzed**_

_**But, I seem to be stuck by you**_

_**I want to make you move**_

_**Because you're standing still**_

_**If your body matches**_

_**What your eyes can do**_

_**You'll probably move right through**_

_**Me on my way to you"**_

They were singing at the top of their lungs, Rachel smiling over at Finn. They used to do this a lot when they were together. Sighing, she watched as he pulled the car into a parking space, drumming out the beat on his steering wheel as the song came to an end.

"Wow, that felt good," Finn said as he turned to Rachel, eyes shining. "I didn't know you listened to rock, Rach. And you knew the lyrics, too. I am quite impressed."

"Well, I have expanded my taste and relaxed a lot of my old ideas on a lot of things, Finn," she said, looking seriously into his eyes. There's that look again. _Finn Hudson, I wish I could figure out what's going in that beautiful head of yours._ Dammit! It's gone again.

"Well, come on," Finn said, crawling out of the car. He walked around to help her out of the car. "I have several stops to make and then we'll stop and eat." He reached for Rachel's hand, helping her down out of the high vehicle. They stood there for a few beats, staring into each others eyes before Finn turned away. He reached for her hand automatically as they headed toward their first stop.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Finn. Wow! I've been meaning to come here since...since like forever," Rachel proclaimed as she and Finn walked hand in hand along the brick sidewalk of the Tanger Outlet Mall.

"I like coming here," said Finn. "Every time I come home, I try to make it out here to shop or sometimes just to walk around, you know? It is so nice, not crowded and so commercial like those huge indoor malls. Nice variety of stores, too."

"Well, I just never took time to come this far out since I've been in school but Rita and I had planned on coming here this summer. Oh, look," she said, excitedly, "J Crew, Finn!"

He smiled down at her. "Well, come on, but we are _not_ going there first," he said, guiding here into the entrance to the Under Armour Outlet Store. "I need new workout clothes."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Well, this is not one of the stores I had planned on visiting when I came here."

"Oh, stop your whining and come on," he joked. "Next you'll be stomping your feet."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They ended up visiting the Nike Outlet (golf gloves, specially ordered due to Finn's huge hands. _Oh those big hands and long fingers_, Rachel was reminded.) Rachel then finally got Finn into J Crew where she bought several sundresses for the summer. "Finn, if you are going to have me out in this heat all summer, I need these." Rachel helped Finn pick out several dress shirts in the Van Heusen store. (She had not forgotten how damn sexy he looked in a button-up as he tried each one on.)

Now she found herself being dragged into an upscale antique shop. "Finn, I'm tired and hungry. Can't we go eat and then come back here?" Rachel said as they headed inside of the store.

"This will only take a minute, Rachel, so stop your whining."

"But I'm starving, Finn. I'm about to pass out. I only had cereal for breakfast..."

He turned toward her, laughing. "Eat more for breakfast, Rach. I've always told you that." He then pointed toward a bench right inside the shop. "Here, sit. This won't take long. I've got to pick up an order and then we'll eat. Okay?" Rachel nodded. He then bent down and kissed her lightly on the cheek causing Rachel to smile.

"Well, Mister, I get to pick where we eat," Rachel told him as he was walking away.

He threw up his hand letting her know he had heard her and agreed as he headed toward the counter. "Pick something good because we are going out tonight and I don't want you fainting on me," he said to her, smiled his half smile and continue toward the counter.

Rachel's mind started racing as she watched him talking with the clerk at the desk.

She looked around at the beautiful items on display. Everything looked quite expensive and Rachel wondered when did Finn develop such exclusive taste. This is a man, who 5 years ago, drove around in an old beat up faded red pickup truck and now drove a freaking Range Rover. Her old Finn thought dressing up was a clean t-shirt, not necessarily unwrinkled and she just helped this Finn pick out several very nice (and pricey) dress shirts! And even though her old Finn stayed in shape in high school being on the basketball and baseball teams, he never worked out in the summer. This Finn? He was buying workout clothes. This Finn? He was so much more relaxed, calm. No, _content_. That's it. He was content, self-assured, confident, and sexy as hell.

And, although knowing that he had a girlfriend in California, _this_ Finn had let his guards down a few times around her since they had been back 'together' since seeing each other yesterday. _This_ Finn sometimes had that old look in his eyes, like he still loved her, still adored her. She saw, every now and then, a look of love, adoration but peace in his eyes. This Finn sometimes gave her that old 'Rachel Smile' he used to have, the smile that only belonged to her, for her.

She then looked longingly over at the counter where the clerk was wrapping up Finn's purchase. Why was she such a fool to give _that_ away to another woman? Why didn't she just let Finn be _Finn? D_o his thing until they figured it out together? He had always done things at his own pace. She should have known she couldn't change that about him. But, she had been so young, too. Young and stupid although at the time, she thought she had her shit so together. Hah! Was she wrong!

She still loved him so much, maybe more. Five years had only made her want and need this gorgeous man more. Well, Rachel. You've got all summer to convince him that he belongs here with you and only you. You want a friend to hang out with, Mr. Hudson, you've got it. A friend that will be there for you and be whatever you need her to be.


	4. Chapter 4

Truth Is

**A/N: Just a reminder, everything is from Rachel's POV in this ff. This Chapter is why this is rated M, so be warned. This Chapter is for my fellow 'smut buddies', Kedzie3238, cab4five, and Khazn43. Not as good as you girls but hope it's okay. **

**Hope you enjoy. The Song that Finn and Rachel dance to is **_**The Only One For Me**_** by **_**Brian McKnight**_**. This Chapter is extremely longer, longer than I wanted it but Finn and Rachel had so much to talk about and I just had to let them let it all out. **

_I do not own anything. All Glee characters belong to Glee and all songs and lyrics mentioned belong to the singers/songwriters. _

Chapter 4

"Come on Finn, I'm starving," Rachel said as she quickly dragged Finn by the hand into the doors of the restaurant. "Table for 2, please," she said to the hostess.

"Good choice, Rach. I like the Bone Fish Grill," smiled Finn.

"Yes," she answered as the hostess led them to their seats. They were then seated and handed their menus.

"I'm getting Bang Bang Shrimp as an appetizer. We can share," said Rachel, rubbing her hands together.

"I don't know Rach," frowned Finn. "You're pretty hungry. If we share, we're splitting them straight down the middle."

"Okay," said Rachel, sipping on her glass of complimentary water.

They placed their orders and started making small talk. Then Rachel's cellphone rang. Looking down she noticed it was her mother. As the waitress brought their appetizers, she watched Finn dig in as she answered her phone, giving Finn a warning look.

"Hi, Mom. What's up?"

"_Where are you, dear?"_

"Eating an early dinner. Why?"

"_Well, I've got to run. We are meeting friends for a pre-holiday gathering but I wanted to ask you to thank Finn for the wine suggestions." _Rachel raised her eyebrows at this revelation. Her mother 'thanking' Finn?

"_We drank a whole bottle of that red wine," _her mother continued._ "You know, those two bottles you and Finn brought back for Monday. That's where your Dad is now."_

"A whole bottle, Mom? Aren't you tipsy?" Rachel looked over at Finn who was going in for several more shrimp. Rachel reached over and popped his hand, shaking her head at him. She then mouthed "**Mom's drunk**", making Finn laugh quietly.

"_Well yes, but you know I can hold my own, honey. Anyway, Dad's gone back to the liquor store to purchase several more bottles to take with us to the party. And I want to thank Finn. Oh, and that phrase you sent, your Dad said it was Italian."_

Rachel's eyebrows raised, "Italian?" Why didn't I think of that? Italian. Of course. Finn loved Italy.

"_Yes. I'm surprised we didn't figure it out earlier. Anyway, I've got to run and don't forget to thank Finn."  
_  
"I will and bye, Mom."

"_Bye, honey"._

"Finn!" Rachel whined, looking over at him.

"What?" he said, with his mouth full of shrimp.

"You left me only 3 shrimp!" Rachel then reached over and grabbed the remaining shrimp, placing them on her saucer, stuffing one into her mouth.

"Good, aren't they? Let's order some more," Finn said.

Rachel shook her head. "No," she said, talking around her last bite of shrimp. "I won't eat my meal and I need to eat. Didn't you say we were going out somewhere tonight?"

"Yeah. I'm not telling you where but dress up. Kinda like you were going to a party or something."

Rachel clapped her hands together like she used to do when she was a teenager. "Yes! I can't wait. I hope there's dancing." She then looked up as the waitress brought their entrees. "I think I'm going to like hanging out with you this summer, Friend." She smiled at Finn.

"Me, too Rach. Me too." They then started eating while talking about different things to do during the summer.

"Well, you know once I go back to work Thursday, I'm going to be pretty busy during the week so most of our get togethers will have to be at night, and maybe weekends." She then looked up at Finn after chewing her linguine. "Oh, that is if you are going to have some weekend nights off, that is."

"Yeah," he answered after swallowing. "Maybe. I don't really have a set schedule. I mostly go in when they need me to fill in at night. Sometimes the owner can't give me a word up. I mostly fill in for vacations, someone calls out sick, you know, that kind of thing."

"Well, I'm sure he appreciates whatever you can do to help out." Rachel then finished off her meal, sitting back in her chair.

"How did you get so much time off from the cruise ship, though," she asked Finn as he looked up at her. "I thought like maybe with a contract, you wouldn't be allowed to have so much time off."

"Well yeah," said Finn, looking down. "With my old contract, yes it was like that. But my contract ended in May and I decided to take the summer off to reconsider some things. You know, like if I want to renew and when. And I am using this time to re-establish some of my personal relationships," he smiled at her. "Repair some of those bridges that I burned in the past. That sort of thing."

"Oh," Rachel said sadly, looking down at her plate. "Like me and you?"

"Like me and you," he agreed. There was silence. "Rachel," he started as she looked up at him again. "This is a time for us to renew our friendship. We are older now, seasoned. I know we said and done a lot of things we regret but we were really kids then."

"I know but it stills saddens me when I think about those days, those years." She was starting to get teary again, thinking about what she had done to their relationship.

"I learned a lot about you, me by talking with my Mom. Mostly I learned a lot about myself and life's lessons. Look Rachel, I might not have gone to Duke or Harvard but I finally got it, you know?"

"Finn." She could feel the tears building up in her eyes. "I just...I never, ever said or even thought that you weren't smart, Finn. That was the problem. I knew you were so much more intelligent than you let on. You were too smart to just stay here and not branch out and try other things. I didn't break things off with you because I..." She could feel herself starting to break down again. She didn't want him to see her cry.

"What's wrong, Rachel?" he asked, concerned. "Listen, I know why you did what you did that day. I told you my Mom helped me to realize so much last year."

"You must have hated me so much, Finn," she said, the tears coming now regardless of how she was fighting them.

"No, I didn't hate you. I never 'hated' you. I was just so hurt. I hurt so badly, Rachel. But, please. Let's not go into that now. We've had such a good day. We can talk about all that later, okay." She nodded. "So, go to the bathroom and wash your face. People are going to think I'm a monster, making you cry like that." He smiled at her.

She smiled back at him, wiping tears from her face. "Okay, I'm going to freshen up and I'll be right back." She grabbed her phone and searched for the ladies room.

Rachel had another idea as she searched for an empty stall. One she should have thought of last night. Going into a stall, she opened her saved messages from Finn, copied the phrase that she now knew was Italian and pasted it into the Google search option. She then stared at the answer. "Oh my God! Oh, Finn!" she said out loud as she looked at the words through her tears: _I still love you_. She stood in the stall leaning against the wall, staring at the words that melted her heart, unaware of how long she had been in there. The tears had started up again, but this time, they were happy tears. Then she heard someone enter the bathroom.

"Hello? Is there a _Rachel_ in here?" she heard the person ask. Rachel opened the stall door.

"Yes, I'm Rachel."

"Well, it's a guy out there that told me to tell you that he's paid the check and is waiting for you." She then gave her a small smile. "He sure is a cutie and if you are trying to dump him, I'll be happy to take him off your hands."

"Oh no, no. Nothing like that. I think I want to keep him," Rachel said, smiling back at her as she headed for the door. "I don't think I'm _ever_ making that mistake again, if I get the chance. Thanks."

Rachel opened the door and saw Finn leaning against the wall outside of the bathroom entrance. She then ran over to him and embraced him as she felt his arms tighten around her. She buried her face into his chest, taking in his smell. "I should have known it was Italian. You love Italy," her voice muffled by his shirt.

"Are you talking about that text I sent to you last night?" Finn asked, pulling back. Rachel nodded. He then laughed. "You're just figuring out what that was, Rach?" Finn asked as he stroked her hair, something that Rachel had always loved. He then pulled her back into him. "Now you know."

"I'm so, so sorry, Finn. Please forgive me. I was so stupid."

He then released her, turning her head up to look at him. "You're not stupid. Like I told you, I know now why you did it." He then kissed her softly on the lips. "Come on, let's get you home. We've got a long night ahead of us." He then grabbed her hand and led her out to the car.

After they were buckled in, he turned to her. "Do you want to go by your parents' house and pick up your car?" Finn asked her.

"Yeah, it's not far from here and then you can follow me home. That way you'll know where I live."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rachel invited Finn to have a seat in her living room. He plopped down in her recliner as she asked him if he wanted a drink. "Yeah, do you have a Dr. Pepper?" She nodded, turned and headed toward her kitchen.

_Why are you so nervous, Rachel? It's just Finn_, she said to herself, pulling out his drink and grabbing a Cheerwine for herself. She was nervous, very nervous and anxious because she knows this is it. The talk. The conversation they have been dancing around since yesterday when they reconnected. She had insisted that he come up to her apartment so that they could finally talk without interruptions and people around. They could finally let all of the emotions and pain out, everything that they had been holding in all of these years.

She handed him his drink and opened hers, taking a sip as she sits on the edge of her couch. "Finn, I finally thought to google that saying you sent to me last night."

He looked up at her. "I kinda figured that out when you came out of the bathroom in the restaurant. I can't believe it took you so long to figure it out, Rach."

"Yeah, I know. Dad said it was Italian and was surprised I hadn't just googled it last night. Duh! Sometimes I surprise myself as to how analogical I can be sometimes. Think of every solution except the most logical one staring me in the face." He smiles and shakes his head. _Good ice breaker, Rachel. Score one for me_.

"Rachel. I never stopped loving you. No matter how hard I tried and believe me, I tried like hell. But it doesn't matter that it's been 5 years. It could be 10, 30, hell 50 years." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Then he looked directly at her. "You don't know how many nights I cursed you. I tried so damn hard to get over you that first year. You hurt me, Rachel. You hurt me so badly I thought I would never recover."

Rachel teared up, seeing him relive the hurt and pain. The hurt and pain that she had caused. "Finn..."

He raised his palm to her. "No, Rachel. Stop. Let me talk. Please. I've been waiting too long to tell you this." He leaned forward and Rachel could see his eyes glistening with tears that he wouldn't allow to fall. "Those first few weeks after you broke up with me? I wanted to crawl into my bed and just let the pain consume me. I stayed in my room with the blinds closed and slept 15-20 hours a day for an entire week. I only ate enough to keep my Mom from bugging me. I just didn't give a fuck about anything anymore. I knew you meant every word," he continued as Rachel saw a tear slide down his cheek. "I knew that you just didn't love me anymore. I knew that we weren't getting back together and i just...I knew this time it wasn't like our other little fights where one of us called later, apologized and then we would be together and in love forever."

He took a sip of his soda, his hands shaking as he continued. "I just felt like you had ripped my heart right out of my chest and the only time I didn't feel the pain was when I was asleep. I just wanted to never wake up, never leave that room. My Mom cried outside of my room, begging me to talk to her but I just couldn't get any words out. My Dad tried to get me to at least get up, get dressed and go out and help him a few hours with his plumbing business but I just looked through him when he talked. I was just numb. I didn't want to scare them, to hurt them but I just felt so hopeless and would just turn my back to them, curl up into a ball and wait for sleep to rescue me again."

"Oh Finn," Rachel said, tears coming to her eyes now. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't..."

"Rachel, please. Let me finish." He then took a deep breath, wiping another stray tear from his face. "Anyway, poor Kurt was beside himself. He would bring me trays of my favorite foods, home baked pastries, anything to try to get me to talk." Finn laughed, mostly to himself. "Hell, he even turned my TV to a baseball game claiming he wanted to watch it with me." This brought a weak laugh from Rachel. "But I just wanted the pain to go away. I felt like I would never be happy again."

He then looked over at Rachel, forcing her to make eye contact with him. "I just loved you so, so much Rachel and I couldn't understand what I had done wrong," his voice cracking now. " I couldn't figure out why...why you didn't want me anymore."

Rachel saw the tears flowing down his cheeks and all she wanted to do was to hold him and make it better. Tell him the _real_ reason why she had to let him go. But she knew it was his turn to talk and for her to listen.

"I tried to be the best boyfriend _ever_. I felt like you deserved only the best. I tried to show you how much I loved you each and every fucking day, Rachel! But I thought, back then, that it just wasn't enough and for some reason, you just didn't love me anymore."

Rachel couldn't let him go on. She had to say something. "No, no, no Finn. That is so far from the truth. I never, ever stopped loving you."

"I know that, _now_. But it took awhile before I realized that. But, let me finish." She nodded her head. "So, I was just spiraling down into this deep deep hole of depression. My parents even thought about getting some kind of professional help for me because it had gotten so bad. Then one day, a few weeks after we broke up, I was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to force down this sandwich my Mom had made for me when she came up with this idea of me going to LA with Kurt. She suggested it on the premise that she and Dad were afraid for Kurt to be so far away from home alone. But I knew what she really wanted. She wanted me to have a change. Get me away from this town. This town that held so many memories, good and bad. She saw it as a fresh start for me. Brand new start, far away from Rachel Berry and the memories of what we had." It was quiet then as they both took in what Finn had said.

"Finn," Rachel finally said, breaking the silence. "You don't know how many times I started to drive over to your house and beg you to take me back. I missed you _so_ much but my parents were saying that it was best for both of us. That we had been too young to be so serious. That we needed a chance to experience other things, other relationships, away from each other. They said that you needed time and space to 'grow up and find your niche' away from me. I heard this from them, from my friends until I found myself repeating this too. I started to believe that what I done to you, to us was the best thing for us. I had convinced myself that what I had given you was Tough Love. A clean break." She was shaking now from the emotion of reliving that time. She paused to control her voice.

"So, I didn't go to your house," she continued. "I didn't call you. Instead, I returned to school, determined to give you the space you needed. And I hoped and prayed that when you finally found whatever was out there for you that you would come back to me. That you would know someway, somehow that I still loved and needed you."

He smiled at her through the tears. "Well, I thought I _had_ moved on. Being in LA, working and basically staying busy, I found myself not thinking about you and us all of the time. I even could go a few days at a time and not think about it. And, after a few months, the pain started easing up and I could actually wake up each morning and not dread having to struggle through another day without you. I started seeing things differently. I took my job seriously for a change and started trying to grasp more and more knowledge. I enrolled in a local community college and eventually got my associate degree in mixology."

"Oh, that's so good, Finn."

"Yeah, I was pretty excited about finally knowing what I wanted to do with my life. Then soon after I met Puck and Tim and the three of us hit it off right away. I even started dating again." Rachel froze when she heard this, a pain stabbing shooting through her stomach at the thought of Finn with other women.

"Well, I wouldn't say what I was doing was dating. I would say it was more like a series of one night stands. Never would they sleep over. No emotion, no drama was the way I wanted it. I had learned my lesson the hard way. I refused to see a girl again if I felt that she was getting too clingy, too attached." He sat back in his chair, taking in a deep breath.

"This behavior continued when I got the job with the cruise line. I would go out with women in whatever city we docked in. And they all knew about you, a lot of them by accident."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "What? By accident?"

He smiled shyly, nodding. "Yeah. I'm embarrassed to say. Well...I...I sometimes...called out your name at...at inopertune times, you know?" Rachel's mouth dropped open. "Then, came the '_I can't believe you!'_ '_Who the hell is Rachel?_' I got thrown out of a lot of apartments during that time. Most of the women I went out with for more than a week knew about you. Even though we hadn't been together for years, I was still saying your fucking name when I was with them. Some of them didn't care, though. Others just got dressed, left and I never saw them again."

Rachel was in shock. She not only couldn't believe Finn had done that but here he was sitting in her apartment admitting this! Finn continued. "And you know what else, Rachel? My life was so screwed up, I just didn't give a damn." He then stood up, started pacing the floor.

Rachel was thrown for a loop. This was not the Finn she knew. Her Finn would never be with so many different women. He had always thought that guys that did that we nothing more than manwhores. He used to turn his nose up at them.

She blamed herself. She had done this to him. To _them_. She was trying to help him when all she had done was hurt him. "Finn," she called out, trying to get him to stop pacing. "What about Tiffany? How did you end up with her?"

"Tiffany?" he asked, stopping his pacing and turning to look at her. "Well, that's on down the road." He then sat back down on in the recliner. "I kept up that reckless womanizing behavior for a few years, mostly because Puck said that I didn't need to tie myself down with one woman. He said it only led to heartache. And at this time, I felt as if he was right. Look what loving you had brought me." He looked over at Rachel. She could see the pain in his eyes. It ripped a hole in her.

"Then one day, all of a sudden, I just just stopped. I didn't enjoy any of it. Never did. I was no closer to getting over you than I was 2 years before. Puck's little theory wasn't nothing but bullshit. I felt nothing for these women and at the end of the day, Rachel, I still loved you just as much as the day I left Greensboro, maybe even more. And do you know what? It _infuriated_ me. I was so angry with you. I wanted to hate you. I wanted you out of my heart like you were out of my life. So again, I threw myself into my work. I started visiting vineyards and wineries instead of following Puck and Tim to the local taverns and bars, chasing women. I started feeling better about myself. I got myself tested, which came back clean by the way. I have always used condoms." Rachel flinched. There goes that ache in the pit of her stomach again.

He cleared his throat and continued. "I started exercising and eating healthier. I started thinking that maybe I might be able to move on, without you. And then," he turned and looked at her. "Then, I received your text."

Rachel gasped, covering her mouth, surprised. "You got those?" He just nodded, sitting back in the recliner. "I didn't know if you ever received them. I just blindly sent them to you hoping you hadn't changed your cell number."

"Nope, I didn't. I changed phones several times but I always was adamant that I kept my same number. Puck and Kurt said it was because I wanted to make sure you always could get in touch with me." He shrugged his shoulders. "Guess it was true, subconsciously. But anyway, every year after that, you would always text me on November 26th, the anniversary of the day that we declared our love for each other. And you only said 'Hi' but I knew."

"You did?" Rachel asked, shocked.

"Yes, I knew. Rachel, we had been together for four years. We had shared everything. We knew each other inside and out. I knew that by your sending that simple text on that particular date that you were reminding me that you loved me, still."

"Oh Finn." Rachel was crying now. All of Finn's revelations were building in her and now the emotions they were causing was almost too much.

"Yes, I knew that you still loved me but I didn't know why, if you still loved me, why did you break up with me, Rachel?"

" A great sacrifice," said Rachel. "Plain and simple. I broke up with you to force you to finally allow yourself to grow. To grow on your own, without me. And if that meant growing apart, away from me, then that was the risk I had to take. Neither of us could grow because the love we had, the bond we shared was stifling our growth. I knew you could do better than staying here, waiting for me to come home on breaks. And, at the same time, while I was away at school, I was only concentrating on those breaks and counting down the days til I could see you and be with you again. And, believe it or not, my mother and father got _some_ things right when they were badgering me about seeing other guys. Our relationship was holding us both back. We needed time away from each other. Time to set goals, career goals and work toward them. I knew that we had talked about it or at least I tried time and time again but it got to the point that I couldn't convince you unless I made a quick, clean break. And God did it hurt!"

She looked over at Finn, into his eyes as the tears flowed. "It almost destroyed me too, Finn. The moment I broke up with you, I wanted to take it all back. It took everything within me to not run after you and beg you to forget what I had said and take me back."

Rachel was full out crying now, not trying to hold in the tears as she relived those days. "I spent most of the summer up in my room, looking through my albums at the pictures we took or just staring at your picture on my cellphone, wishing I had you there, kissing me, holding me, loving me again. I cried myself to sleep for weeks until my mother had my friends stage an intervention." Finn's eyebrows raised up in surprise. "Yes, a real corny 'reality TV' intervention. They took me away to the beach. They bought me these really skimpy bikinis, ones that I had only dared wear when I was with you. They took me out each night to different clubs, trying to get me to enjoy myself. But, in the end, it didn't work. I spent hours walking alone on the beach at night, looking up at the stars and wishing I was with you. Wondering where you were, what you were doing. Had you found someone else."

She then got up and kneeled down in front of Finn. "I never, ever stopped loving you. Not one day, one hour, one second." She then put her hand on his cheek which was damp from his own tears. "Please, please, please forgive me, Finn. I love you so, so much."

Finn covered her hand with his own. "Rachel, I forgave you a year ago."

"What?" asked Rachel.

Finn just nodded and continued. "Last spring, when my Dad died, Kurt and I came home and spent a few weeks with Mom. You know, making sure she was okay and giving her a little adjustment time. We finally got her to come back with us and spend a few weeks with Kurt in LA. During this time, we talked, I mean we really talked. And it was her who made me finally realized the reason for what you had done. She told me that you had loved me so much that you made the ultimate sacrifice. You gave me up to save me. She went on to tell me about meeting up with your parents through the years and keeping up with you. I knew you weren't dating steadily and all."

"Finn, how did your mother know all of this?"

"Well, she just said out loud what I knew in my gut was true. I knew you still loved me and the reason why neither of us could move on was because we weren't meant to. I just brought to surface what I probably already knew. That you only wanted what was best for me and I had to be knocked in the head, literally push away and toward what I really needed to do." By now, their faces were nearly touching.

Then he pulled her face to his until their lips touched. He then kissed her, lightly at first and then Rachel deepened the kiss. She felt Finn's tongue running along the lines of her lips. Out of old habit, she parted her lips as his tongue plunged into her mouth as the kiss became more passionate. Rachel had her eyes closed as she let the feel of Finn's tongue caressing the inside of her mouth spread over her body. She started feeling that old familiar warmth between her legs. A warmth that only Finn Hudson could cause. It had been so long for her.

She started moaning into the kiss as he pulled away slightly. With his hand still pressed against her face, he looked deep into her eyes as Rachel saw that look again. Now she realized what it was. _Love_. Finn Hudson_ did_ still love her just like his text had said. That's the look she couldn't pinpoint since she first saw it in his eyes yesterday.

She pulled him back in for another kiss as she crawled into his lap. He broke the kiss only to attach his lips to her neck as he went for that certain spot on Rachel's neck just below her ear lobe. Rachel smiled, knowing that Finn remembered so much about her, about them even after 5 years of being apart.

As Rachel threw her head back, taking in the pleasure of Finn's lips against her skin, she remembered something. "Finn, wait."

"Huh? But Rach..."

"Finn," she continued, putting her hands to his face to stop him. "You have a girlfriend. What about Tiffany?"

"Rachel, I never said I had a girlfriend. You just assumed that and I let you." He let a little smirk cross his mouth. "I wanted you to think I had someone else in my life because I wanted to get in one last dig for what you put us through."

Rachel hit his shoulder. "Finn, that's mean. That not very nice at all. Did I react the way you wanted?"

"Hell yeah!" he laughed. "You should have seen the look on your face. Listen Rach. Tiffany is not my girlfriend," he said, more seriously now. "She never was. She was more like a friend, with some added benefits." He wiggled his eyebrows, teasing Rachel.

"Ugh!" Rachel said, laying her forehead against his shoulder. "I don't want to think about that."

"Come on Rach. You dumped me. And Tiffany was a good...listener. She was funny, really fun to be with. She was one of the ones that didn't mind when I called her your name, sometimes. She knew that my heart belonged to you and that was never going to change. But, after my talk with my Mom, I knew that what I was doing with her was so unfair. She deserved someone who could give her more than I could ever give her. So I broke things off with her. That was always a year ago and I haven't seen or heard from her since."

Rachel smiled. "So, you don't have anybody?" Finn shook his head. "You are single?" He smiled back at her. Then she pushed him back in the chair and straddled him.

"Rachel, listen. I said I didn't have a girlfriend but we still..." He was cut off by Rachel kissing him passionately. She had missed doing this. Missed being in Finn's arms for so long. She just wanted him, now. She could feel him harden under her as she ground herself into him. Suddenly, he pulled away.

"Rachel, listen. We have to talk." He put both his hands on her shoulder and Rachel looked up at him, disappointed.

"Alright, alright Finn. Talk." She was still straddling him as he looked into her eyes. Then she felt his phone buzzing against her thigh. Looking up at her he said, "I need to get that, Rach."

She stood up, reluctantly, moving over to her previous place on the couch. She watched as he pulled out his phone, reading his incoming text. "Uh, that's Kurt. He said he was taking a red eye tonight and would be in Greensboro around 7 in the morning."

"Oh, he's coming home for the 4th?" 

"Yeah. But fortunately, he's getting a rental car and driving himself from the airport. Thank goodness I don't have to get up early in the morning to pick him up." She then saw him look up at the clock on the wall. "Besides, we are going out tonight, Ms. Berry and I plan on being out pretty late."

She watched as he stood up and placed his phone back in his pocket. "It's almost 6 now. So, I'm leaving so you can rest and be ready at 9pm sharp. I'll be back to pick you up for our night on the town." He headed for the front door.

Rachel followed him, disappointed that their little make out session was interrupted. "Finn, you don't have to leave now. I can rest much better if you are here." She looked up at him.

"Rachel, come on. We still have a lot of things we need to discuss." He opened the door and then turned toward her. "Besides, you know you take those long ass baths before you go out and I could be home in my own shower." He then bent down, capturing her lips in a kiss. Rachel reached up, placing her arms around his neck, pulling him in closer to deepen the kiss. It felt so good, kissing Finn. She had missed this so much.

Then she felt him pull back. "I'll see you at 9." Rachel nodded in agreement, pouting. He bent down and placed a quick kiss on her forehead. "And stop that pouting," he smirked. "Not gonna work." He smiled at her and then he was gone.

Rachel groaned, shutting the door behind her. _Well, Mr. Hudson, now that I know you are single and you still love me, it's on tonight!_ she declared as she headed for her bedroom.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rachel smoothed out the hem of her skirt. She had chosen her outfit carefully. She wanted to blow Finn Hudson away tonight. The royal blue skirt stopped mid thigh, with it's matching top that showed just a hint of her toned stomach. She adjusted the spaghetti straps of her top, smiling at how Finn's favorite color looked good against her tanned shoulders. She had on high heeled royal and white strappy sandals to match. Since it had cooled down to a comfortable 72 degrees tonight, she had her hair down, with the ends curled flowing down her back, just the way Finn used to love it. She had on very light makeup (he didn't like heavy makeup) and added a light layer of pink lipstick.

She heard her doorbell ring, looking up at the clock. Exactly 9pm just as he promised. Opening the door, she was taken aback at the man standing in front of her. Finn was wearing a pair of neat black dress pants with a tan belt and a black, short sleeved button down shirt neatly tucked into his pants. He looked breathtakingly handsome.

His eyes widened as he looked at Rachel, starting at her feet and moving up, briefly hesitating at her thighs and then slowly he looked up to her face. "Wow, Rachel! You look fantastic! Just...Wow!"

"Thank you Finn. You look good enough to eat, yourself." She then licked her lips, knowing that that use to drive Finn wild. She saw him blush before her and knew then that she still had the power to get what she needed from him.

He grabbed her hand into his. "Ready?"

"Yeah," she said, reaching and grabbing her purse from the credenza. "I'm excited. A night out on the town with you." She closed the door behind them, locking it and placing her key back into her purse.

They walked hand in hand to his car. After he helped her into her seat, he ran around and slid into the driver's seat. "So, where are we headed, Finn?"

"Well," he said, pulling onto the street. "I thought I would take you to the club where I work. Tonight they are having a special pre-holiday event. Ladies' Night, 1/2 price drinks for all the females in the place. It's a pretty fun place and I remembered how much you used to love to dance and how in to your music you were."

"Still am and it sounds great," Rachel said, looking over at Finn. "Good music, cheap drinks, good company." Finn looked over at her briefly, smiled and then turned back to the road.

Soon they pulled up to a huge red brick building, Walking up to the club after Finn helped her out of the car, Rachel looked up at the sign. "Taylor's?"

"Yeah, the owner likes that name."

"Is that his name?"

"No, not even close. But he decided on the name for some reason." Finn had a small smirk on his face as he wrapped his arm around Rachel, guiding her into the club.

As walked by a long line of people, waiting to get in, Rachel overheard one girl state, _How did she pull him? What does she have that I don't." _Then another one said something about how short she was and couldn't handle all that man. Rachel knew that Finn was terribly handsome and many a woman wanted to get their hands on him. But she had to get use to the venom some women could spew at her just because she was with him.

The guy standing at the door smiled widely at them, nodding at Finn as he let them bypass the long line of people standing, waiting to get in. Rachel nervously let Finn pull her into the doorway, noticing the other people glaring at them, especially the females. She heard another girl say,_"Who do they think they are? VIP's or something." _Rachel turned to stare at the girl. "He works here, thank you. And he's mine tonight, so hands and eyes off." Rachel smiled at Finn as the doorman's mouth dropped open, about to speak as Finn gave him a look causing him to close his mouth and open the door for them.

When she entered the club, she was amazed at how huge the inside was. The place was packed. She didn't see how anymore people would be allowed in. The music was blasting, people were talking loudly over the music, and the dance floor was filled with people, mostly college-aged people, having fun dancing to the latest thumping song the DJ was playing.

Finn turned toward, bending down to talk directly into her ear to be heard over the music. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the guys I work with." He grabbed her hand and led her up to the bar. There were two guys and a girl behind the bar, mixing and serving drinks to the large crowd of people sitting and standing 3 rows deep at the bar. They all wore black pants and purple shirts with '**Taylor's**' written across the right pocket. Hmmm, purple, her favorite color.

"Finn, I love those shirts, Rachel said, pointing at one of the guys wearing the shirt. "You have one like that?"

"No, mine is white, part-time. Come on, I wanna introduce you to my buddy, first." They move around to the side of the bar as another group of patrons rolled their eyes at them. "Puck!" Finn yelled toward a guy that was standing in front of a blender, mixing a drink.

He looked up and held his finger in the air, telling them one minute. After serving the drink he had been mixing, he sauntered over to them. He raised his eyebrows at Rachel, causing her to feel like she should cover her chest or something. "Let me guess," he finally said, after looking her up and down a few times, "this is _the_ Rachel Berry my boy has been talking about."

Rachel nodded, putting her hand out to shake his. "Uh no, Rachel. We hug around here," Puck said, smiling at her, extending his arms out to hug her.

"I don't think so," Finn said, putting his arm out in front of Rachel, protectively. "No hugging Rachel, Puck. A handshake will do." He then looked down at Rachel. "Rachel, this is my best bud and manager of this place, Noah Puckerman, but we call him 'Puck'."

Rachel smiled at him. "Puck, nice to meet you. And yes, I'm Rachel Berry, an old friend of Finn's."

"From what I've heard, you are more than just an '_old friend_'. More like..."

"Puck, enough," Finn interrupted him. "Things going okay?"

"Kinda," said Puck, looking around.

"What's wrong?" asked Finn.

"Well...I hate to ask you this, with you being here with Rachel and all..."

"No, no. What do you need, Puck?" asked Finn, shaking his head, concerned.

"Well, the three of us just can't keep up with this crowd. We've got only two upstairs and they are holding their own but it's only 9:30 and we're killing ourselves."

"So, what do you need me to do?"

"I wouldn't ask you to work tonight seeing as you are with Rachel," Puck said, looking over at Rachel, "but what I need is for you to help out, just until Andy gets here. I called him in and he's coming but he was way in Salisbury and he can't get here until 10 or 10:15."

Finn looked at Rachel. "It's fine, Finn," Rachel said. "Help them. I'll be okay until the other guy gets here."

"Are you sure," asking Finn, holding both her hands. Rachel nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Rach." He then turned to Puck. "I'll help but I'm outta here as soon as Andy gets here."

Puck patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks, man." He then looked at Rachel. "Sorry about that Rachel."

"No problem," said Rachel. "I'll just find me a seat here at the bar and people watch." Finn then went in the back and got Rachel an extra barstool and placed it at the end of the bar so that she could look out across the dance floor.

"Sit here, Rach," said Finn, patting the seat. "I'll fix you a cocktail and then I'll get to work. Shouldn't be long, though. Andy is on his way." Smiling at her, he headed toward the counter as Rachel watched him mix a drink for her.

After a minute, he brought her a frosted tall cocktail glass with a red drink in it, topped with a cocktail pick with pineapple, cherry and a grape. "Here, Rach. Sip on this and holler if you need me." He then winked and walked back over to the counter to help waiting customers.

Rachel looked out at the huge number of people dancing. This place was really popular. Finn had said that it was relatively new, opened about a month ago. She turned and saw Puck and Finn talking near the register. "You haven't told her yet, man?"

"Shh," she overhead Finn say. "No, but I will. Just get back to work." Finn then smiled at the next customer and went over to prepare their order. _What was that about?_ Rachel continued sipping on her drink, which tasted fantastic. She made a mental note to ask Finn the name of it so she could order it in the future. She looked down and saw the club's name on her cocktail napkin. '**Taylor's**' with a guitar symbol in the background. Where had she seen that before?

**8 years ago...**

"_Finn," said Rachel. "Come on, put down your ipod. We need to finish this research on James Taylor for our class. She and Finn had been dating for a year now and she loved how he appreciated all types of music now. (except opera, he would have nothing to do with that.) They decided to take a Music Appreciation course as one of their electives that year and they partnered to write a paper on a famous North Carolina musician. They had both decided on James Taylor because they discovered that they both loved his music as well as his lyrics. _

_She turned and Finn was placing his ipod into the speaker deck. "Listen to this one, Rach. I think this is my favorite," just as __**Fire and Rain**__ started playing smoothly into the room. "Come on, Rachel, dance with me." She stood up and Finn gathered her in his arms and they swayed to the music. Finn started humming the tune into her ear as she closed her eyes, taking in the feel and smell of her Finn. _

"_Finn, I love this song. This is going to be our song. What do you say?" _

"_I think I like that very much, Rachel Berry." He kissed her on the neck as they drifted over to her bed. He laid her down and hovered over her, supporting his weight on his elbows. Rachel closed her eyes as Finn made love to her slowly as the soft, smooth voice of James Taylor drifted throughout the room. _

_Later, as they laid in each other's arms, Finn turned toward her. "You know what?" _

"_Hmmm?" she asked, almost asleeep. _

"_I think I want to name our first born '__**Taylor**__' after James Taylor." _

"_Taylor. Taylor," repeated Rachel. "I guess that could work, might even work for a boy or a girl." _

"_Yes. Taylor Anne Hudson for a girl and...hmmmm...Henry Taylor Hudson for a boy." _

_Rachel rolled toward Finn so that she was facing him. "Got it all planned out, have we?" teased Rachel. _

"_Yep." He kissed her forward and gathered her in his arms. "Do you like those names?" _

"_I think I do. I think I do, a lot." _

"_Well, ingrain them in your brain, future Mrs. Hudson, because I really like them." _

**Back to present time...**

Rachel shook her head. _No, couldn't be_. Probably just a coincidence. She looked back down at the napkin. _Or, maybe not_. She then looked up and saw Finn smiling over at her. He finished helping a customer and then came over to her.

"You okay?" he asked, "You look like you were a million miles away."

"No, only about 8 years away. Anyway, what's the name of this drink? I love it and I might want to order it again."

"It's called _Carolina Sunset_, from James Taylor's lyrics. You like it?" She nodded, slowly. _Coincidence again_?

"Yea, I like it a lot, Finn."

"Good. Let me know when you want a refill and...it's all on the house." With that, he walked away to help another customer.

Just as Rachel was finishing her drink, '_**Starships**_' by **Nicki Minaj** started playing. Rachel found herself bouncing in her seat, snapping her fingers to the club song beat.

Puck came over. "Hey, Berry. Hot in the pants?"

"No, Puckerman. I just really like this song." She then noticed Puck looking up behind her. She turned and so a tall red headed guy standing behind her.

"Wanna dance?" he asked. Rachel then looked back at Puck and then over at Finn, who was watching her. Finn nodded so Rachel turned and accepted.

Just as she was walking away toward the dance floor, she overheard Puck exclaim, "Damn, Hudson! She's fine as hell, man!"

The guy, who she learned was named Harrison, guided her to the edge of the crowded dance floor. Rachel let the beat of the song engulf her as she threw her head back and shook her hips and rolled her shoulders to the rhythm of the pulsating song. She then turned to see Finn staring at her as she licked her lips and put extra effort into her hip movements. _She what's yours, Finn Hudson_? All yours. She then turned back to face her dance partner as he wrapped his arms around her waist as the song was ending.

A slower song started just as Harrison tried to pull her towards him. "Another dance uh..."

"Rachel. My name is Rachel and no. I'm with someone and I'm going back..." At that, Harrison tried to lower his hands down to her hips. Rachel pushed on his chest, backing away from him.

"What's wrong, Rachel? Just one slow dance, that's all," Harrison said, trying to pull her back in.

That's when Rachel heard Finn over her shoulder. "I don't think so, Bud. If I were you, I would keep my hands to myself. She said no and she's with me so back off or I'll have you thrown out." Finn then wrapped his arm around Rachel's shoulder, guiding her back towards the bar.

They saw that the guy named Andy was now behind the bar. "I'll be right back, Rachel. I'm going to make sure everything's okay then we can finally enjoy ourselves, together."

Rachel watched Finn go over and say a few words to Andy and Puck, patted them on the back and headed back to the other side of the bar where Rachel was standing.

"Come on, Rachel," Finn said, grabbing her hand and leading her toward the back of the club. "Andy's here and I'm officially off duty."

"Where are we going, Finn?" Rachel asked, struggling to keep up with Finn's long strides in her 4" heels. He led her to the base of a staircase that led up to a huge wooden door guarded by a large muscular guy. _Bouncer?_ wondered Rachel silently. "Finn, do I want to know what's up here?"

Finn turned toward her at the top of the stairs. "Come on, Rach. Trust me?" Rachel nodded. Finn acknowledged the bulky man guarding the door.

"Hi, Mr. Hudson. Huge but nice crowd tonight, Sir." _Why was this guy, who was obviously older than Finn, addressing him that way_? Rachel was about to ask Finn when he rushed her through the door.

Rachel gasped. This room was enormous, too. There were booths all around the wall with elevated sections with circular booths in each corner and across the back wall. Then there were tables scattered throughout the floor with a slightly elevated dance floor. The lights were low with candles lighting the tables. To the right was another bar with two guys busily waiting on customers.

Finn looked over in their direction then turned toward Rachel. "Come on, Rach." He grabbed her hand again and led her to one of the elevated booths. Rachel was surprised it was empty with such a large crowd of people there. Then she noticed the 'RESERVED' sign on the table. Did Finn do this for her? She looked up at him and smiled, with his return dimpled smile causing warmth to spread throughout her body.

"Have a seat here, Rach. I'm going over to see if those guys," he said, pointing toward the bar, "are doing okay." He bent over and kissed her lightly on the lips, sending a tingling sensation through Rachel's lips. _Damn, he had gotten so sexy._ Then, pulling back slightly, he whispered in her ear, "I'll be right back." Rachel smiled and then nodded as Finn turned and headed toward the bar.

She looked around, taking in the atmosphere of the club. It just felt so familiar to her for some reason. She felt instantly comfortable there. She watched couples dancing to Ed Sheeran song. Now this was the type of music that she could possibly get Finn to dance to. She noticed that this crowd seemed somewhat older than the crowd downstairs.

Just then, a cute blonde waitress walked up to her table. "Hi, I'm Beverly and I'll be your waitress tonight. Do you want to order now or are you waiting for the rest of your party?"

Rachel opened her mouth to answer just as Finn came over and sat down next to her. She noticed that Beverly immediately focused in on Finn, smiling. "Hi, I'm Beverly," she said while licking her lips. _Is she trying to be seductive_? _Why is she flapping those false eyelashes at Finn_? She noticed Finn squirming, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"Uh, Beverly is it?" asked Finn.

"Yes, but you can call me Bev, for short."

"Well, Beverly," said Finn. "You must be new here. I haven't met you."

"Oh," she said, her eyes widening at Finn noticing her. "You come here often?" Rachel got the feeling that Bev (_for short_) had forgotten that she was even sitting there.

Rachel put her arm through Finn's, clearing her throat. "He works here, Bev, for short." Rachel saw Finn smirking out of the corner of her eye, shaking his head. "_And_, I'd like, what is it called Finn? Oh yeah. I want another one of those Carolina Sunsets, please."

Beverly turned and looked at Rachel like she finally realized that Rachel was still there. "I don't think we make those. Never heard of it," she replied, curtly. "Anyway," she continued, turning back to Finn. "What can I get for you, Finn is it?" Beverly said, looking seductively again at Finn.

Rachel felt Finn's hand on her thigh, squeezing it, trying to come her down before Rachel stood up and snatched out a plug of 'Bev's' bleached blonde hair. Then Finn spoke up. "Look Beverly, I'll have a Heineken and don't worry about Rachel's drink. I'll take care of it and tell Dave to put everything on my tab."

"Okay, but does Dave know you have a..."

"Beverly," Rachel heard over her shoulder.

Their waitress turned toward the voice, frowning. "Yes, Dave? I'm trying to take care of these customers." Dave came over to their table, grabbing Beverly by the elbow.

He smiled at Rachel and then looked apologetically toward Finn. "Finn, Puck's sending up her drink." He then smiled again at Rachel, his mouth dropping open as she smiled back at him, laying her head on Finn's shoulder. (What? _Bev, for short_, needs to know that Finn was taken.)

"Is this Rachel?" asked Dave, grinning at her.

"Oh yeah. Rachel, this is one of the bartenders and a friend of mine, David Flowers. Dave, this is Rachel, Rachel Berry." Rachel extended her hand, shaking his offered hand.

"Nice meeting you, Rachel. Let me know if you need anything else and Finn," he said, rolling his eyes, "sorry about that and I'll bring your Heineken."

Then he grabbed Beverly by the elbow and led her to the bar. Rachel overheard him say to her, "_Do you want to get fired? Don't even go back to that table!_"

The music was blasting now and Rachel was starting to feel quite amorous from her second drink. Being 5'2 and 100lbs on a fat day, it didn't take much to get her tipsy.

"Finn, why did they have to make my drink downstairs? Ms. Bev, for short, never heard of it."

"Well," said Finn, laughing at Rachel's name for their now ex-waitress. "Only Puck and I know how to make your drink." Rachel took a sip of her drink.

"And it is so good. Why don't the others know how?"

"Well," said Finn, taking a long swig on his beer. "I kinda made it up one week while we were out to sea. I didn't share the recipe with anyone except Puck."

"Oh, really?" asked Rachel, impressed.

"Yeah. I even named it. For here, you know, North Carolina."

"Hmmm. Well, you done good, Finn Hudson. I love it."

"Thanks, Rach."

She then looked around again, noticing the DJ booth. "They play my kind of music up here." She then turned and looked at him again. "They have two dance floors and two bars?" Finn nodded. "That's genius. Something for everyone."

"Yeah," smiled Finn, proudly. "Downstairs is usually the busiest on weekends because it caters to the college crowd. DJ mostly plays rock, pop and rap. Up here is the older crowd, the money crowd and big tippers. We play more soft pop, old school, R&amp;B, that kind of stuff. On beach night, we play shag music, that old beach stuff that my Mom likes."

"Oh, what a neat idea. The owner is a smart man. Is he here tonight?" asked Rachel, laying her head back on Finn's chest, wrapping an arm around his waist. He still smelled so good. So Finn-like. She felt Finn chuckle.

"I promise you'll meet him soon," he answered.

She then lifted her head up and looked at him and smiled, "Good. I want to congratulate him on having such a nice place. And having the most handsome and friendly bartenders around." She felt fun squeezing her shoulder.

She then looked around again. "What's behind there?" she asked, pointing toward two large double wooden doors across the room.

"Oh, that's closed tonight. That's a soundproof room. It's a cigar/sports bar. It's usually open on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. Mostly guys..." Rachel raised her eyebrows. "..._And_" continued Finn, "some women go in there to watch sports on the big screen TVs, smoke expensive cigars, play poker, chess and I think they may have added a dartboard and a pool table."

Rachel clapped her hands together, excited. "Oh, that sounds like fun, Finn. Will you take me in there sometime?"

"Yeah, maybe we'll go in there one night this summer, watch a baseball game, smoke a big fat cigar," he tickled her in her side as Rachel let out a giggle then snunched up her nose, "Well, maybe we'll skip the cigars. I might even challenge you to a game of 8 Ball."

A sad look went across Rachel's face, looking down. "Yeah, you taught me how to play pool in the..." She then looked up sadly at Finn, "in the...what was it, our junior year?"

Finn put his fingers under her chin and looked her in the eyes. "Don't be sad, Rachel. We are here now, okay." She then gave him a weak smile as he pulled her towards him, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "And yes, it was our junior year. Taught you in the pool hall down the street from my house."

Finn didn't release her face but continued to stare into her eyes with such intensity that Rachel wanted to looked away. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said, blinking. "It's just, you...you look so beautiful, Rachel. Striking."

Rachel blushed. "Thank you, Finn." They stayed that way until a new waitress came up to them as they declined her offer of another drink.

Just then Rachel heard the DJ start up another song, a softer, slower song. Rachel turned and smiled at Finn as he grabbed her hand. "Rachel, dance with me?"

She could only nod in response, choked up with the emotions and love she felt pass between them in these moments. She floated onto the dance floor, Finn wrapping his arms around her waist as she reached up and curled her fingers around his neck, playing with the hair at the back of his neck. She then lay her head against his chest, feeling his heartbeat against her.

_**Looking out on the rest of our lives,**_

_**If we're gonna be together or apart**_

_**About the only way I know how to come,**_

_**Is right straight from my heart.**_

_**I want you now,**_

_**I'll show you how**_

_**I can be the man you need me to be**_

_**I've been around,**_

_**But now I've found**_

_**That you're the only one for me.**_

Rachel lifted her head up to look into Finn's eyes. He had them closed. She wanted him back into her life so badly. Not just for the summer but forever. She loved him, and now she knew he still loved her, too. Why? Why can't she be with him like this forever?

_**I want you now**_

_**I'll show you how**_

_**I can be the man you need me to be**_

_**I've been around**_

_**But now I've found**_

_**That you're the only one**_

_**I need you so**_

_**I can't let go**_

_**Gonna be all that I can be**_

_**I want you still**_

_**I always will **_

_**Cause you're the only one for me.**_

As the rest of the song drifted throughout the dance floor, Rachel looked up again at Finn to see him staring back down at her. His eyes were glistening as he slowly lowered his head. "Rachel, listen to those words. They are so meaningful to me and you."

"I did, Finn," said Rachel. "I love you, Finn. I always have, I always will. Please?" As if he knew what she was asking, he brought his lips down to hers, softly at first. But as the kiss grew more passionate, Rachel grabbed the back of his neck, bringing him closer as she deepened the kiss. Finn had lifted his hands to caress Rachel's face as she felt his mouth opening and she took this opportunity to capture his tongue with hers, kissing him with everything she had and felt for this precious, handsome man. The absolute love of her life.

As the song was ending, they ended the kiss, continuing to stare into each others eyes. "Come with me," Finn said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She nodded, knowing that she would follow him to the ends of the earth if he needed her to. He led her towards the back of the club, down a short hallway until they came to a mahogany door.

She watches as he pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. As soon as they entered, Finn pinned Rachel against the wall, closing the door with his foot. He recaptured her lips as he gave her such a passionate kiss, Rachel found herself dizzy, the room spinning slightly around them.

As he pulled away, Rachel felt his lips on her neck, sucking, biting and licking, causing shivers throughout her body. "Finn. Finn, this is someone's office. I don't want you to get in trouble. We might get caught."

"Don't care." he said in between kisses. "Boss doesn't care. We come in here (_kiss_) all the time."

"Finn, look at me," she said, lifting his head up. "I can't be just another one of your hook ups you bring in here."

He looked at her. "Rach, you know better than that. You are the first and _only_ girl I've brought in here." He then kissed her again, sucking on her bottom lip, driving Rachel insane.

"But Finn..."

"Rachel," Finn said, interrupting her. "Shut up." She then smiled against his lips as he continued his ministrations to her body, moving down her neck as she felt his hands move under her top to caress her breast.

"Oh, God Rach. No bra. So soft, feels so good, baby." Rachel then gasped as she felt Finn move one hand down her side and started caressing her butt. His hand then moved under her short skirt as he made his way under the band of her panties.

Rachel reached down and started rubbing his bulge he now had through his pants. As Finn's hands found its way down to her now wet folds, she felt him twitch under her fingers. Then she felt as he slipped two fingers into her. "Shit, Rach. So tight."

"Been a long, long time, Finn," she moaned. His fingers felt so good, just like they always had. He could always make her easily cum with just his fingers. Rachel reached for his belt buckle, loosening it as she fumbled to unzip him using the small space she had to work in. She then lowered his pants as far as she could, freeing up his now full erection. She started stroking him up and down, running her fingers across his tip, which was now moist. She wanted him to feel as good as he was making her feel.

She then felt Finn tense up. "What's wrong, Finn?"

He then relaxed a little against her. "Rachel," he said, looking into her eyes. "it's been a long time for me, too. I can't take that, babe. I want to be_ in_ you, against this wall and cum inside of you with your legs wrapped around me."

She could feel him fumbling with his pants. He then kissed her again. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked as she then covered his mouth against hers, kissing him deeply as she ground herself against him. Then she felt Finn move her panties to the side as he slowly slid into her.

"Oh, Rachel. So...so tight and wet, baby," Finn said as she slowly entered her completely. He then paused, allowing her to adjust to him. She didn't remember Finn being so...so huge but she started moving against him once she had adjusted to him. Then he started thrusting into her slowly with each stroke causing him to go deeper and deeper into her.

Rachel could soon feel that tightness building in the pit of her stomach, spreading down causing each of his thrust to bring her closer and closer to what she needed to relieve that almost painful feeling between her legs. Finn then grabbed her thighs and wrapped them around his waist. This immediately deepened his thrust even more and Finn buried his face into her neck.

He again began kissing her favorite spot just below her ear, moving to her lips, causing Rachel to yell out. "Damn, Finn! God I've missed you, this, so...so much!" What he was now doing to her neck along with the feeling of him buried so deep within her was sending Rachel into a total frenzy. She was glad Finn had her wedged against the wall, supporting her by palming her butt because her legs were now trembling and so weak she knew she couldn't support her weight.

Finn was now breathing hard into her neck as his thrust were becoming deeper and faster. "Cum with me, Rach," he whispered in her ear as Rachel could feel the pounding beats of the music on the other side of the door. "Come on, baby, let go because I can't last much longer, Rach." Finn continued, panting.

Rachel was now thrashing about against the wall, not having felt like this since the last time she was with Finn. This is what she had needed and wanted for 5 whole years. Being with this man, him pounding into her with so much love and lust, taking them both over the edge together. Rachel could feel that tightening feeling in her core with so much intensity that she couldn't hold back her scream. "Finnnn! Oh God!" she yelled as she felt Finn growing impossibly larger inside her. She knew he was also ready to explode. She threw her head back against the wall, allowing the feeling of being with Finn this way again just engulf her. Through her fog of passion and release, she could hear Finn yell her name as he spilled forcefully into the condom he had put on at sometime. "Oh, Rachel, ohhhh!" she heard him yell as she looked at him. He had his eyes closed as sweat dripped from his forehead and the tip of his nose.

He then opened his eyes and smiled at her. His thrust slowed and then stopped as he eased her down to the floor. Rachel's legs were still weak and trembling as she moved over to the couch to catch her breath. She watched as Finn removed the condom and pull his pants up. Walking over to the couch, he sat down beside her after throwing away the condom. He then reached up and began stroking her hair, which she could only imagine must be a mess.

"Wow, Rach. That was...was.."

"Absolutely fantastic! The best I've ever had, Finn." She gave him a quick peck on his swollen lips. She then grabbed her purse, pulling out a small mirror.

"There's a mirror in the bathroom over there," Finn said, still stroking her hair.

Rachel rose up and walked across the office to the bathroom Finn had mentioned. Looking in the mirror, she was shocked at what she saw. She had sex hair and her lips were swollen and red where Finn had bitten them.

"Finn, I look like I've just had sex!" Rachel scolded him. She looked up and he was directly behind her.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, he kissed the back of her head. "That's because you did, Rachel." She pulled a small brush from her purse and brushed her hair quickly, and then reapplied her lipstick."

"Now, that's a little better," she said, turning around to face him.

"You looked beautiful. Now," he said, grabbing her hand, "let's go."

"Where?" asked Rachel.

"Your place. We've got 5 years to make up for," he said, leading her out the door.

_**If we're gonna be together or apart  
About the only way I know how to come, is right straight from my heart.  
I want you now, I'll show you how  
I can be the man you need me to be  
I've been around, but now I've found that you're the only one for me.  
Say you'll never fall again  
You won't subject yourself to such pain  
If you give me half a chance I will Never leave you standing out in the rain  
But if you think that I could look you in your face and lie right  
through my teeth then turn around and walk away  
Cross my heart, girl I care for you and when I look into your eyes i  
must say...  
**_

_**I want you now  
I'll show you how  
I can be the man you need me to be  
I've been around but now I've found  
that you're the only one for me  
I need you so  
I can't let go  
Gonna be all that I can be  
I want you still  
I always will  
cause you're the only one for me**_


	5. Chapter 5

Truth Is

**A/N: This chapter is a little shorter than I intended but I wanted to post this on Cory's birthday. Happy Birthday, our handsome drummer. We do this for you and Finn Hudson.**

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Songs are the property of the writers/singers. Glee characters are the property of Glee writers and producers._

Chapter 5

Rachel stretched out her limbs as she awakened to the sound of soft snoring beside her. She turned to see Finn sleeping beside her, a smile crossing her face. She saw the evidence that the tingling feelings between her legs was not just her imagination or a dream.

Last night had been wonderful, the best night she had had in...let's face it...in 5 years.

She and Finn had promised each other that this was it for them both. No more lies, secrets, pretending. They had declared their never-ending love for each other. They realized that they needed those years apart to grow individually. But they also had to acknowledge the fact that during those years their love for each other had only increased. And now that they had found their way back together, they would no longer waste time searching for this kind of love with anyone else.

It didn't matter to Rachel that Finn may go back to California at the end of summer. He had a job he needed to get back to. She would never, ever let distance deter her from being with him. They could travel to be together. They could spend holidays, vacations together. They could call, Skype, email and text each other. Whatever it took, she was in this for the long haul. Forever.

She turned over to face him. He was so, so handsome, so innocent-looking as he slept. No other man could ever break the hold he had on her. He had grabbed onto her heart when she was 15 years old and had never let go. And now that she had him back, never again would she let anyone or anything make her doubt what they had, what he was to her. She was going to spend the rest of her life making it up to him. Making him realize how much she loved him.

She reached up to rub her hand down his cheek. She needed to touch him to make sure he was real. Touching him only increased the tingling throughout her body. She leaned closer to him and kissed him lightly on the lips just as his eyes flickered open. "Hi." he said simply.

"Good morning, baby," replied Rachel. She leaned over and kissed him on his forehead. "Sleep okay?" she asked.

He then turned on his back, stretching out his long legs. "Hmm," he whispered. "Really good, once a certain little brunette finally let me get some sleep," he said, touching her on her nose.

""Really?" asked Rachel, smiling.

"Uh, yeah," he replied, kissing her lightly on the lips. "This little woman I know and love had me up half the night making up for her 5 years of holding out." He then smiled at her. "And boy, did she make up for it." He wiggled his eyebrows. "What was it 4 or 5 times, Rach?"

Rachel hit him on the shoulder, blushing. She and Finn had made love several times, with him bringing her to the heights of pleasure. She actually had lost count because he kept her in such a pleasure-filled fog until she literally passed out. Each time seemed like she couldn't possibly reach that height of pleasure again but some way, some how, Finn Hudson could take her even higher and had her screaming his name over and over, declaring her eternal love for him.

He opened his arms for her as she gladly snuggled into his chest. "So Mr. Hudson, what do you want to do today?"

"Where do _you_ wanna go today, Rach?" Finn asked, tightening his arms around her. "I could just spend today right here. I have a lot to make up for, myself."

"Sounds good but the Hot Air Balloon Festival and Rally is today and I haven't been since, well you know. We went together our senior year. I thought we could get a picnic lunch and sit and watch the rally. What do you say?"

"Sounds good but only if you promise that we come back here tonight and finish up where we left off."

"You got a deal." Rachel threw back the covers. "I'm hitting the shower and then I'll fix us a light breakfast."

"Okay. What time's the rally?"

"Ummm, about 2, I think. It's a little after 10 now so we have time," answered Rachel as she searched through her closet for an outfit.

"Ok. But I've I want to run by Mom's to see Kurt before we head out. Plus, I've got a change of clothes there. I can also borrow that old quilt in my closet there for our picnic."

"Okay," said Rachel, "sounds good. I'll be out in a few."

"And, if you point me toward the kitchen, I'll get breakfast started while you get dressed," Finn said, smiling down at her.

As she showered, Rachel felt a twinge of anxiety. What if Kurt hated her? What if Finn's Mom had understood her reasons for letting Finn go but still resented the fact that she had hurt her son so severely? Maybe she hated her too? Well, it was just time to face the music.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They pulled up to Finn's mother's house, Rachel feeling the slight sadness of deja vue at seeing the house they had spent so much time at. Finn clasped their hands together as he opened the door.

Leaning down and kissing her hair, he whispered, "Relax, Rach. They still love you just like I do. Okay?" Rachel gave him a small smile, realizing that the two of them still could read each others thoughts, finish each other sentences, and still had that unique ability to communicate without saying a word. Loving Finn Hudson had never been hard. The hard part was getting Finn to love himself.

As they walked in, Rachel saw Kurt sitting in the den on the couch, talking on his cell phone. Finn pulled a hesitant Rachel into the den, standing in front of Kurt. Kurt closed his phone and stood up to greet them.

"Well, well. Ms. Rachel Berry of all people." Rachel looked down at the floor, feeling Finn squeezing her hand.

"Hi, Kurt. Long time," she finally answered, looking up at him. "How's it going?"

"Oh come on now, Rachel. Give me a hug," Kurt answered, reaching out to give Rachel a strong hug. "Come on. Sit and we can catch up while Finn does whatever the hell he is going to do."

"And 'hello' to you, too, brother dear." Finn reached, grabbed Kurt in a bear hug, picking him up off the floor and squeezed him, making Kurt yell for him to put him down.

"So Kurt, we'll catch up later. I'm going to take a shower and change." He turned and kissed Rachel lightly on the lips and then headed upstairs.

"So, Rachel," Kurt said, pulling Rachel down onto the couch with him. "Seeing that my brother has on what looks like the same clothes he probably wore last night, I take it that you two are an item again?"

Rachel never was particularly close to Kurt. He was two years younger than she and Finn and he had his own circle of friends back in high school. She just knew that Finn had always been very protective of him and that Kurt was one of the ones that helped Finn through his breakup with her. "Yes, Kurt," Rachel finally answered, smiling and looking him in the eyes. "We are back together, in love, for good this time."

Kurt raised his eyebrows. "Well Rachel, I'm happy for you two. But most of all, I'm pleased to see my brother so happy. He loves you dearly, Rachel and because of that, I am happy for you, too."

He then turned to completely face Rachel, reaching out to clasp her hands into his. "With that said, I just need you to know how it was for him. Rachel, you hurt him bad. So bad, I didn't think that Finn would ever be happy again. When we first got out to LA, he was just a shell of the Finn everyone knew here in Greensboro."

Rachel felt tears coming to her eyes. "But Kurt..." Kurt held up his hands to stop her.

"Rachel, please, let me finish. He never, ever stopped loving you. Puck and I did everything we could to get him to try to move on. I took him shopping for new clothes, sightseeing, introduced him to my friends, both male and female but Finn would just go to work and come home, eat and go to his room. Puck took him out to parties, clubs, the beach. He introduced him to that heathenous crowd of his, God forbid, but Finn just continued just going through the motions of life."

Rachel dropped her head, unable to continue looking Kurt in the eyes. "Then, one day, it's like a light turned on and all of a sudden we got the new and 'improved' version of Finn Hudson." Kurt stopped and took a sip of a beverage he was drinking. (Rachel thinks it was more to let all of this sink in).

"Anyway," Kurt continued, "this brand _new_ version of Finn Hudson was just awful. He worked, took classes and got a degree. But at night, he partied, he had a slew of women in and out of his and Puck's apartment. I rarely saw Finn and I tried to talk to him. Get him to tell me what happened between you two. He would just say that you 'dumped' him, didn't want anything else to do with him, he smiled and that would be all I could get out of him. Then he got that job on the cruise ship and him, Puck and Tim were gone for weeks at a time and when he was in Long Beach, he would call sometimes but it was just mostly a cold, hardened Finn. Not the loving, warm and kind brother I once had."

Rachel could see Kurt's eyes misting up and she gave his hands a squeeze. He cleared his throat and continued. "I knew my brother was still hurting, hurting bad Rachel. If I could have gotten my hands on you at that time, I don't know what I would have done. I was so angry at you for what you had done to my brother."

"Oh Kurt, it wasn't like that, please believe me."

"I know now,Rachel. I know. But at that time, I was so afraid of what was going to happen to my brother. He was so reckless with his life. And me, Mom and Dad just didn't know what to do to help him." Kurt then looked down as if some memories or thoughts pained him.

"Anyway, then last year, Dad died and we came back here for awhile. Finn would drive off and be gone for hours. I didn't know where he was or what he was doing. He never told me until later. Sometimes I would overhear him and Mom in the kitchen talking. He would talk with her about his thoughts, his plans. He was also convincing her to come back out to LA with me. And they talked about you. He was telling her about how he still loved you and wanted to be with you and hadn't really dated anyone since you. That was a shock to me because I thought he was in a relationship with what's-her-name..."

"Tiffany."

"Yeah, Tiffany. He told you about her?" Rachel nodded. "Well, anyway, Finn told Mom and me that he had broke off whatever it was he had going with her. He said he had his quote 'shit together' and was now 'moving forward with his past'."

"With his _past_?" Rachel asked. Kurt nodded. "_Me_?" Kurt nodded again.

"Rachel. It's always been _you_ for my brother. I knew it. My Mom and Dad knew it. Even he knew it somewhere in that brain of his. But anyway, moving to the present. I'm glad he is with you because you complete him. You are his joy, his peace. He is happy now, Rachel, and that's all that matters to me." He smiled sincerely at her. "Did you see the way he sprinted up those steps?"

Rachel blushed. "Well, Kurt, he does the same for me. I never stopped loving Finn. Not one second. I now know that you and your Mom understood what I did and why I had to do it. I have been miserable, too, these past 5 years. I never moved on. Not even close. There has never been and never will be anyone for me but Finn. He's _my_ joy, my life, Kurt." She reached up and wiped away a stray tear from her eye.

Kurt reached up and put his hand on her shoulder. Looking her in the eyes he said, "Just don't hurt him, Rachel. Please. I don't want to ever see my brother like that again. Please," he begged.

"I promise, Kurt. Never again. He has forgiven me and he trusts me again. I will not ever disappoint or intentionally hurt him again. I plan on loving your brother and being with him for the rest of my life. I will spend the rest of my life showing him how much he means to me. And thank you. Thank you for being there for him." She bent over and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

Kurt took a deep breath. "So, enough of that. Where are you two headed?"

"Oh, that reminds me. I need to call in our order for our picnic lunch. We are going to the Hot Air Balloon Rally at Pleasant Grove Park." She looked at the time on the wall. "It starts at 2 so I thought we would go over about 3. You want to come with us?"

"Oh no, no. It's too hot out there for me. North Carolina's heat is so much more humid than LA's. I've completely gotten away from this. I'll spend enough time outdoors tomorrow helping Mom with her festivities for the 4th. I'm meeting some friends at Friendly's and then we might end up at one of the clubs. I had planned on going to Finn's place tonight but I heard he was closed..." Rachel saw Kurt look up as Finn came down the stairs. "Finn, I was just telling Rachel that I wanted to visit Taylor's but you closed..."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Finn closed the club tonight?" She then turned toward Finn as he sat on the arm of her chair, placing his arm around her shoulder. He then glared at Kurt.

"Kurt," he said, pleadingly.

"Oh, umm. Anyway. Rachel, I've got to run upstairs and finish unpacking." Kurt rose out of his seat and headed for the stairs. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

Rachel was watching the look on Finn's face. Was that a guilty look? "Uh, sure Kurt. Finn and I will be back for your Mom's cookout tomorrow evening. Right, Finn?"

"Yeah, Kurt. I'll see you then." They both waved goodbye to Kurt as he ascended the stairs.

"Finn," Rachel said, turning her attention back to her boyfriend. "You have something you need to tell me about Taylor's?" Finn nodded. "Finn! What did we agree on last night?"

Finn's cheeks reddened. "No more secrets, lies, pretense?"

"Well, Mr. Hudson, start talking Bud." Rachel crossed her arms, waiting.

Finn took a seat beside Rachel and then pulled her into his lap. She laid her head on his shoulder as he began talking. "Well, babe. I didn't want to put all of my cards on the table, especially since we have just got back together."

"No excuse, Finn. Let's have it." She then put both her hands on his cheeks and looked him straight in the eyes. "Baby, you don't need to hold anything back. I love you. You know all my secrets, everything. Don't do this, Finn. This is a fresh start for us. I want to know everything you have done. I am so proud of you. That's why I let you go. To fulfill _your_ dreams, reach _your_ potential. I don't care if you are the head dishwasher for IHOP as long as it's what gives you joy and keeps that beautiful smile on your face." She then kissed him passionately. They broke apart as they heard Kurt coming down the stairs.

"Never mind me, you two. Believe me, over the years, I have caught the two of you in more compromising things than sucking face." Rachel blushed, thinking back over the times Kurt walked in on them. "I'm outta here. See you two tomorrow." Then he left.

"Oh, wait Finn. I need to order our picnic food," Rachel said, sitting up. She pulled out her cellphone and quickly ordered their packed lunch from a downtown deli. Hanging up her cell, she then turned back to Finn. "I told them to have everything ready at 3. That's okay?"

Finn nodded. "Well," he said pulling Rachel into his chest. "Here goes. Where was I. Oh yeah. So, last spring after my father died, I talked Mom into coming out to LA to stay for awhile. She did and stayed for a few weeks. You know we had a talk and I told her and Kurt what I wanted to do with my life. I had decided that I wanted to come back here to live."

Rachel gasped, looking up at him. "Finn! You are staying here?" He nodded. Rachel smiled at him, kissed him quickly on the cheek and then laid her head back into his chest. "I'm sorry Finn. Continue."

Finn rolled his eyes. "Anyway...I had been saving most of my money for the last 4 years. I had my degree, I had studied while traveling and I felt I was ready to do what I had wanted to do for years. Also, when my grandfather died back in 2010, he left Kurt and I a pretty big amount of money but we couldn't touch it until we were 25. I turned 25 last May and I also banked that money. I traveled back and forth between Long Beach and here over the last year searching for property, getting my NC bartender's license, business license, hiring contractors, etc. Mom and my financial consultant at the bank helped a lot. Anyway, I bought the building, talked Puck into running the place for me, came up with the idea of Taylor's and here I am."

"Finn, my goodness. I knew that certain things were happening last night when we were there. The name of the club, you seemed to have free reign of the place, especially being just a part time employee. So, all of that's your club?"

He nodded. "Yep. Been a dream of mine for years. And another thing I've kept from you. Mom talked with your parents when she saw them. She secretly fed me info about you. I knew when you finished school, got your license, moved back here. Everything. I knew you were single. I knew where you lived. And," he continued, pushing Rachel back to look into her eyes. "I knew your daily routine."

"Finn! You mean?"

Finn laughed. "Yeah. I knew you would be jogging through that park downtown Friday morning and it wasn't just a coincidence that I happened to be standing there on the sidewalk."

"Finn Hudson! You dirty..." Rachel raised up out of his lap and pushed his shoulder. "You set me up!" She smiled at him.

Finn rose up and headed for the stairs. "What can I say, Rach. When you know you know. I knew you still had the hots for me and I played you like a fiddle."

Rachel then chased him up the stairs, yelling, "I'm going to get you, Finn Hudson! When I catch you, I'm gonna...I'm gonna climb you like a tree and then have my way with you!"

Finn stopped outside his old bedroom. "Is that a promise?" He then grabbed her and pulled her into his room, locking the door behind them.


	6. Chapter 6

Truth Is

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Songs are the property of the writers/singers. Glee characters are the property of Glee writers and producers._

Chapter 6

"Finn," Rachel said, placing a strawberry between her lips. They were sitting on their quilt after eating most of their picnic lunch and watching the colorful balloons float high above them. "Finn, wanna share this last strawberry?" Rachel tilted her head toward her boyfriend who was looking at her now.

Finn smiled at her while bending down to bite down on the end of the red ripe berry clinched between Rachel's lips. He then laughed and started chewing. "Hmm, that's so good, Rach."

Rachel took the remaining strawberry out of her mouth and threw it at him. "Okay, buddy. That was so _not_ funny." He grabbed her around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

"It was and you know it." He then kissed her lightly on her lips. "If you wanted a kiss from me, you should have just asked, Missy." He smiled back at her and then leaned in for a longer kiss.

"You two need to cut that out. There's kids around here." They looked up to see a smiling Puck who was standing over them.

Finn turned and gave Rachel another searing kiss before placing his arm around her shoulder. "I've got a lot of time to make up for, man. And what are you doing here anyway? Trolling for desperate women?"

"Ha! Ha!" Puck replied, flopping down onto the quilt. He started rummaging through their picnic basket. "Got any food left?"

Rachel reached over and hit his hand. "Get outta there, Puckerman!" She grabbed the basket, reached in and removed half a sandwich and the remaining lemonade. "Here, this is all that's left," she said, handing him the jar of lemonade and sandwich.

"Thanks, Berry." He then ate the half of a sandwich in two bites and turned up the remaining lemonade, draining the bottle. "Hmm. Now that was good. Thanks."

"So Puck," said Finn, pulling Rachel into his chest. "Who are you here with?"

"I let Joe and Andy talk me into coming out here." He leaned back on the quilt, causing Rachel to cling closer to Finn.

"Don't worry, Berry. I'm not gonna try to cop a feel," Puck said, sneering at her. "My boy Hudson here would take my head off."

"Damn straight!" declared Finn, frowning at Puck's forwardness. "So where is Joe and Andy?"

"They saw a couple of women they knew. Said they went to high school with them."

"And you passed up that opportunity?" asked Finn, skeptical of his friend's motives.

"Weren't my type. Two redheads with freckles and the other two were dressed like goths or witches. Jet black hair, black lipstick, white as ghost." Puck shook his head. "Just...just no." He then looked up at Finn and Rachel. "You got the cream of the crop out here." He then winked at Rachel.

Rachel reached over and popped him on the head. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Aw, Berry! What the fuck was that for?" said Puck, rubbing the back of his head as Finn laughed.

"I'm not a piece of meat, Puckerman. And I don't know why you picked today of all days to up your standards for women. I heard about your escapades."

"Not true. I have matured in my old age of 26. Ask your man Finn."

"Anyway," said Finn, steering the conversation away from where he thought Puck might be going, "I see your two sidekicks headed this way." They all looked up at Joe and Andy headed in their direction.

After introducing Rachel to the two of them, Joe and Andy said they were headed to the horseshoe pit. Joe spoke up, "You three want to come?"

Finn perked up. "Yeah, Man. I haven't pitched horseshoes in ages." He turned toward Rachel. "You wanna come, Babe?" Rachel shook her head.

"No way. Does not sound like fun to me. But you go ahead, honey. I don't mind."

"Are you sure?" She nodded and pulled out her Kindle.

"I can relax here and read. I'll be fine."

"What about you Puck?" Finn asked his friend who was laying on his side on the quilt.

"Hell no! It's too damn hot here for me. I am not going back out there in that sun."

"Well," said Finn raising up, "I'll be back in about 45 minutes. Okay?" Rachel nodded as he bent down to kiss her lightly on the lips. He then turned and walked off toward the pits with Joe and Andy.

Rachel watched him until he disappeared into the crowd. She then sighed and picked up her Kindle. She then turned and saw Puck stretched out on the other side of the quilt with his hands behind his head watching her.

"You really love that big guy, don't you?"

Rachel nodded. "Very much. I always have and always will." She looked at Puck. "And I wanted to say thank you, Puckerman."

He raised his eyebrows. "Huh? For what?"

"For being there for him when I wasn't. For helping him when all I caused him was so much pain. For just...just being such a good friend." He nodded with understanding.

"He never stopped loving you, you know," replied Puck.

Rachel smiled. "Tell me about it," she said, the smile disappearing from her face. She looked over at Puck and knew he understood what she was wanting to know.

"Are you sure?" asked Puck, skeptically. She nodded. He closed his eyes as if it helped his memory.

"Well, when I first met Hudson he was in pretty bad shape." He looked over and saw Rachel cringe. "Are you sure you can handle this?" She nodded.

"Anyway," he continued, "we met after he had been in LA about 6 months. I got a job bartending where he was already working. We worked the night shift together. He would always come in for work, never missing a day." Puck then sat up on his elbows, shifting around on the blanket.

"He hardly ever talked with any of the rest of us. Most of the waitresses and female bartenders tried to get a date with him but he always would turn them down. I wandered what could have made such a nice young guy so sad, so jaded towards life. Then, after awhile, he loosened up some but was still sort of guarded." Puck then looked over at Rachel who was trying to maintain her composure.

"He would laugh sometimes at our jokes, talk a little more, mostly about work but that sadness still surrounded him. I could see it in his eyes." Puck had a distant look in his eyes, like he was remembering those times.

"Then him, me and Tim got that job on the cruise line and moved in together in Long Beach. Slowly, Finn started opening up to me. He told me about you."

"Really?" asked Rachel. Puck nodded slowly.

"He didn't say your name, per se," he clarified, "but just said that he had left the love of his life back here in North Carolina. He said you didn't want him anymore, didn't love him anymore and it had really kinda destroyed him. And here he was, in California, trying to patch his life back together." Puck shifted again, turning onto his side to face Rachel.

"Knowing what made my boy so sad, I made it my goal to help him get over you and move on. We had been through a lot together over the 2 years I had known him." Puck looked up at the sky and blow out a breathe, as if he was trying to keep his own emotions under control.

"When we were out on the ocean, I would find him down in our cabin during our downtime, listening to sappy ass songs on his phone and flipping through pictures on it. A few times I caught a glimpse of the pictures he was looking at. There was a picture of a small, brown-headed girl sitting on a park bench, and another one was of her standing in a doorway wearing this huge red and white t shirt with the number 5 on it."

Rachel felt the tears coming. "That was Finn's shirt. His football number was 5. He was the quarterback," sniffled Rachel.

"No shit! Wow! He never told me he played ball in school." Puck shook his head in disbelief. "My boy knows a lot about sports but I never guessed he actually played and was the damn quarterback. Whata you know?" Rachel looked down, wiping away a tear.

Puck looked over at her as if to see if she was okay. "Anyway," he continued, "time went on and finally Finn started to go out with the rest of us to the clubs and bars. I thought he was finally turning the corner. But I still saw that aura of sadness around him that just didn't go away. I didn't know at the time who that little brown-headed girl was that had done that to my friend, but I kinda knew then that whoever she was, she had stolen my friend's heart and he would never get it back." He turned and looked at Rachel.

"You must have hated me," said Rachel, quietly.

"No, I didn't hate you. And just thought, at the time, that you were just a cold-hearted bitch. I wondered what kind of girl could just do that and walk away without a second thought about what she had done to him."

"It wasn't like that, Puck."

"Oh, I know that now. But at the time, I didn't think much of you. But anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. Finn started hooking up with the ladies. My boy had the women from sea to shore." Puck chuckled until he saw the look on Rachel's face.

"Sorry," he said. "And that's why I don't know why he even bothered with Tiffany. He did tell you about her, didn't he?" Rachel nodded, sadly. "She was a nice girl and completely adored Finn, like most of the women that met Finn. I think Finn just picked her out of a bunch of girls that wanted to be with him. He cared about her but I knew that there was no future there because I knew Finn loved that mysterious brown headed girl on his iPhone." Puck then winked at Rachel, making her smile a little.

"Then we got the call that his Dad died and Finn and Kurt left and came here and stayed for a few weeks. Then, when they brought their Moms back to LA, Finn just seemed more at...more at peace for some reason. I could see that cloud of sadness lifting. He truly smiled again and I knew that it had something to do with that little brown-headed girl."

Finn cut Tiffany loose when he came back, too. She called me a couple of times, asking me was he back with Rachel. So, now I had a name for that little brown-headed girl. _Rachel. _After I confronted Finn about Tiffany and you, he finally told me everything. About how he finally figured out why you had broke things off with him, his years of loving you and how he was going to go back home, buy a club, etc. And get you back. He said he would always love only you and and now knew, from his mother, that you still loved him."

"I don't know how he knew," said Rachel, looking back up at Puck, "but it was all so true. I never moved on. I hardly dated. I came back here to work, hoping that one day Finn would come back to me."

"He knew, Rachel. For the past year, he traveled back here when he had a break from the ship. Set everything up and asked me to come with him to manage the club for him."

"And you did," said Rachel, gratefully.

"Yes, I did. I trusted my boy. Finn was and _is_ my very best friend. I would follow him anywhere because he had always been there for me and is the best friend I have _ever_ had. So, Miss Berry, you are _that girl_ on Finn's phone." Puck said it more as a statement than a question.

"Yes. I have been '_that girl'_ since we were 15 years old. And now, 10 years later, I'm still '_that girl'_. The girl that has _always_ loved your friend. And, I have only grown to love him even more over the years we were apart and I plan on loving him forever. There never has been anyone else and there never will be."

"So," asked Puck, "what happened between you two that caused you to be apart for so long? You clearly love each other."

"Finn and I are unique," Rachel said, smiling. "Our love is so deep and passionate that it eventually consumed us. It was and is so strong that sometimes I couldn't function without him. We are so tethered that I can lay on him now and our hearts just automatically synchronize. Beating as one, beat for beat." Rachel looked over at Puck.

Puck's eyes got wide. "Damn," said Puck, "that's some scary shit."

"It is scary sometimes," laughed Rachel. "I can actually feel him when he's near. Long before I actually see him. And he's said the same thing about me."

"And, what happened between us?" continued Rachel, "Well, 5 years ago, it came to the point where neither of us were growing. We were so intertwined, it was like two vines that were wrapped around each other and we were stifling our own individual growth. I knew that we needed to be separate in order for us to grow as individuals." She then looked up at Puck with tears in her eyes.

"You ever heard of that saying _'if you love someone you must be strong enough to allow them to be'_? That's what I did for Finn, I just let him _be_. I let him go so he could grow. It was the hardest and most painful thing I have ever done in my life." Rachel stayed silent for awhile to get better control of her emotions.

"But he knows now why I did it and he has forgiven me. And he loves me and that's all I want out of life now. And now we can continue to grow, but _together._ Forever."

She took in a trembling breath and continued. "My main purpose in life now is to love Finn Hudson and_ be_ loved by him. I hope you can understand that Puck, because," she laughed through her tears, "I know, I know. I'm rambling now. But, know that I will never ever stop loving your friend and he is my_ joy_, my _life_ now. I am never letting that man go again."

Puck nodded then reached over and cupped her hand. "I know. I can see how happy and content he is now. With you. Just keep it that way, okay?"

Rachel laughed. "I promise. Sooo, Puckerman," she said, ending the that part of the conversation, "tell me about _you_."

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Finn dropped Rachel off at her apartment after they left the park. Then he headed back over to his Mom's to return her quilt and to help her with preparations for tomorrow. He promised he would return in a couple of hours and then they would head over to his apartment for the night.

She had never been to his place and was excited to spend the night in _his_ bed for a change. She had called her Mom to check in to see if she was needed there but she already knew the answer to that. Their July 4th cookouts were a huge catered affair and there was very little that her parents had left to do.

So, for now, Rachel was packing her overnight bag with her outfit for tomorrow, clean underwears, her bathing suits and coverall for her pool time at her parents. She walked into her bathroom and collected her toiletries she would need. _Did Finn have a blow dryer? _Surely he would. So she just grabbed her flat iron and threw it in the bag.

She then sat on her couch, turning the TV to CNN just for the noise. She called Rita and a few of her other friends whom she hadn't talked to since she got back with Finn. Now she was sitting on her couch, bored and anxious to see Finn. Just as she was picking up her cell to text Finn, her doorbell rang.

Jumping up off her couch, she ran to the door, opening it up to her handsome boyfriend. She jumped into his arms. "Finn! I missed you so much."

"Rach, I've only been gone a few hours," he said, smiling and planting a kiss to her head. "And," he continued as she pulled him into her apartment, "stop opening your door before you know whose on the other side, little lady." He tapped her on the nose as she giggled.

"I know, I know. But, anyway. I'm ready to go." She ran off into her bedroom with Finn following closely behind.

She picked up her overnight bag, turned and grabbed Finn by the hand. "Let's go. I'm ready to get the night started." He chuckled as she led him out of the apartment. They climbed into his SUV and headed out.

"Oh, do you have a blow dryer?" Rachel asked. "I just assumed you did so I didn't pack mine."

"Yes, I have a blow dryer," he said, steering his car onto the expressway. "I even have one of those kind with all of those fancy attachments that you like."

"What in the world are you doing with that, Finn? Because I refuse to use a blow dryer that you bought for all of your other women," Rachel pouted, crossing her arms.

"Rachel, stop pouting. It doesn't belong to anyone else. It's mine and when I bought it, I had you in mind, okay?"

"Really? Oh thank you, Finn." she said, smiling brightly at him. He just chuckled to himself.

They finally pulled up to a huge high rise apartment complex. He helped Rachel out of the car and opened the entrance door , escorting her into a huge marbled foyer. He guided her to a set of elevators.

"Wow, Finn. This is nice. Upscale." They entered the elevator and Finn pressed the button for #22, the top floor. "You live here alone?" asked Rachel, looking up at him.

"Not really. Puck moved in with me when he took over managing the club. It was part of my incentive to get him to come here." He helped Rachel out of the elevator, walking toward his apartment. Opening the door to apartment #2206, he led her inside.

"Welcome to my place, Rach," he said, closing the door behind them.

"This is so nice, Finn," Rachel said, looking around. They were standing in a huge livingroom with wooden beams high up in the vaulted ceiling. "Two bedrooms?"

"Well, actually three. But I use the extra one for my office." He gathered her in his arms after sitting her bag on the floor. "So, Ms. Berry. Make yourself at home. Consider this your place, too."

Rachel giggled and then frowned. "But Finn, Puck lives here too. Don't you think that that may cause some problems? Especially with you being so...so vocal during our carnal activities." Rachel blushed.

"Well, Puckerman is moving out. He won't be here tonight and he's moving in with Andy next week. He thought that would be best since they are both single and I'm...I'm just _not_. Okay?"

"Okay. So, what do we do now?" Finn wiggled his eyebrows.

"Well, the last one in the bedroom and naked has to get on top." Then they both dashed for the bedroom.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Finn pulled out of Rachel, turning over onto his back and she snuggled into him. Each time she and Finn made love since they had gotten back together seemed to be so much more intense than she remembered. She knew it had to be because they were older now, more mature. There were no days now where they had to rush, sneaking away for quickies. Or not being able to really give in to the complete feelings for fear of being caught by family or friends.

"Finn," Rachel said after catching her breath.

"Hmm?" he responded.

"Did you think about me? You know, while your were in California all those years?"

"Oh yes. Always. No matter how much I tried not to, I always did. Especially when it was quiet, like now. And when I found out that you were waiting for me, still loved me, you were never out of my mind."

"I never stopped thinking about you, either. I wanted to call you so badly but I didn't know if you wanted to talk to me, you know, after..."

He turned her face toward him so that he could look directly in her eyes. "Rachel. You don't know how many times I wished I could hear your voice, see your face." He let out a breath. "When I came to my senses, I decided then and there that I was going to be what you had wanted me to be. I was going to be the best I could be, for not only you but for myself. I wanted to make you, Mom and Kurt proud of me."

"Oh Finn, I've always been proud of you. That wasn't the problem. I wanted you to be proud of yourself, your own accomplishments."

She lifted her head up and kissed him lightly. "I'm so glad you came back to me." She felt herself tearing up. "I thought you would hate me. I was so afraid, Finn, that I had lost you for good."

"Never, baby, never. I love you so much." He turned and placed both his hand to each side of her face. He kissed her with so much passion Rachel thought she would explode. He then kissed her neck, moving down to each breast as Rachel felt that now familiar warmth over her body, That strong need for them to be joined with him again.

As Finn climbed between her parted thighs, a new song came on the Spotify station that had been playing softly in the background:

"_**Yes, when you're feeling lost in the night  
When you feel your world just ain't right  
Call on me, I will be waiting  
Count on me, I will be there  
Anytime the times get too tough  
Anytime your best ain't enough  
I'll be the one to make it better  
I'll be there to protect you, see you through  
I'll be there, and there is nothing, I won't do**__**"**_

Finn pushed slowly into her for the second time that night, moaning her name and how much he loved her.

Rachel gasped from the feeling of renewed pleasure coursing throughout her body. "Oh, Finn!" she exclaimed. "I l-love you, t-too," she barely got out as Finn began thrusting into her at a hectic pace. Like he had never had her before.

"_**I will cross the ocean for you  
I will go and bring you the moon  
I will be your hero, your strength, anything you need  
I will be the sun in your sky  
I will light your way for all time, promise you  
For you I will, yes yeah, yeah**_

_**I will shield your heart from the rain  
I won't let no harm come your way**__**"**_

He placed his arms across Rachel's back, lifting her up to almost a sitting position which automatically deepened his thrusts. "Oh god, Rachel. You feel so good, baby."

_**"**__**Oh, these arms will be your shelter  
No, these arms won't let you down  
If there is a mountain to move  
I will move that mountain for you**_

_**I'm here for you, I'm here forever  
I will be your fortress tall and strong  
I'll keep you safe, I'll stand beside you right or wrong**__**"**_

Rachel started shaking her head from side to side and she thrust her hips up to meet Finn's strokes. She felt the coiling in her stomach, knowing that this was going to be the most powerful orgasm she's ever had. Finn tightened his grip on her, sweat pouring down his face and chest as he pulled Rachel in closer to him.

"_**I will cross the ocean for you  
I will go and bring you the moon  
I will be your hero, your strength, anything you need  
I will be the sun in your sky  
I will light your way for all time, promise you  
For you I will**__**."**_

"Oh Finn," Rachel sobbed. She was so close but she didn't want this feeling to end.

"_**For you I will lay my life on the line, for you I will fight, oh  
For you I will die, with every breath, with all my soul  
I'll give my word, I'll give it all  
Put your faith in me, put your faith in me  
And I'll do anything oh**__**"**_

"_**I will cross the ocean for you  
I will go and bring you the moon  
I will be your hero, your strength, anything you need  
I will be the sun in your sky  
I will light your way for all time, promise you  
For you I will, yes yeah, yeah**__**"**_

As the song was coming to it's end, Rachel could feel Finn growing larger inside of her, pulsating and she knew he was close to cumming. She reached up and kissed him with what strength she had left. As they pulled apart Finn whispered in her ear, "Come on, Rach, baby cum with me. Let go with me, baby."_**  
**_

"_**Promise you, for you I will  
Promise you, for you I will**__**"**_

"Oh my...oh Finnn!" she screamed as stars exploded in her eyes and her body trembled from the power of her orgasm. She could feel Finn cumming inside of her as his body jerked against her.

She then collapsed back onto the bed as Finn let go of her, he himself falling onto his side. They lay side by side, both breathing heavily as they tried to come down from the strong force of their lovemaking.

"Oh my," said Rachel, her legs trembling as she stretched them out. She could see Finn lying on his back now, breathing deeply with his eyes closed.

"God, Rach. That was something else! Whew!"

They lay in silence for a while, each with their own thoughts as they waited for their heart rates to settle. Spotify had switched to a soft instrumental as Rachel reached down and pulled the sheet up over her and Finn. He was lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling.

"Rachel?" he asked.

"Yeah, Finn?"

"Marry me." Rachel took in a breath and held it. _Did he just ask her to marry him? Did she hear him right?_ Surely he was just caught up in the passion of the moment. Once he calmed down he would take it all back.

Finn then turned his head toward her and she could see the love and adoration in his eyes. "Let's get married, babe."

"Do what?" Rachel asked, not believing what she was hearing. There was nothing she wanted more than to be his wife but she thought she wasn't hearing him correctly.

"I said," Finn answered, pointedly, "let' .married."

"You wanna marry me?"

"Well, yeah." He turned and cupped her cheek. "I want us to be like this forever and I want forever to start _now_. So, what do you say?"

Rachel let a smile cross over her face. He was quite serious. He didn't know how long she has wanted to be Mrs. Finn Hudson. "Oh Finn, yes, yes, yes!"

He leaned down and kissed her. "But," said Rachel, raising up on one elbow. "There are 2 conditions."

"And?" questioned Finn.

"One, I want to elope."

Finn nodded. "We can do that. What's the other condition?"

"We do it now. I mean, right away. I can't wait any longer to be your wife. For you to be mine, Finn Hudson. For the rest of our life. No waiting."

"Like, this moment?"

"No, silly," she laughed, pushing him back playfully. "It's like 2am. And today _is_ a holiday. Everything is closed. But," Rachel said, laying on top of him so she could be face to face with him. "Let's do it Tuesday morning."

"Sounds good." He kissed her forehead. "We have wasted too much time. Been apart for too long, Rach." He captured her into his arms. "I love you so very much and I need to have you right beside me. Forever."

"Wait," she said, pulling back. "We're going to need 2 witnesses. Who can we get?" She tapped her finger against her cheek, thinking. "It has to be someone we trust and who can keep their big mouth shut until we can tell our families."

"I want Kurt there but he has a big mouth. But, I'll make him promise to keep quiet."

"Oh, and Puck," said Rachel. She felt so much more closer to him since they had their talk earlier. "I want the people that was there for you when it was bad for us to be there when we are happy."

"Okay. Puck and Kurt it is. But what about you? Who do you want there?"

Rachel looked down, sadly. "Everyone that was around me during that time only encouraged me to move on. They thought it was just a high school romance that was destined to end. They didn't really support me through my pain."

She laid her head on Finn's chest. "My parents are definitely out. They were way to jubilant that we were no longer together. I hate it but they will only find out _after_ the fact. When all they can do is accept it."

She wrapped her arms around Finn and squeezed him. "They'll just have to get use to the idea that I'm married to the most wonderful, loving man and nothing is going to change that."

"What about Rita?" Finn asked. "You two seem pretty close."

"Rita is a friend but she never realized how much I was hurting all through those years without you. I really didn't have anyone to confide in...oh wait a minute. No one except my Nana! Oh Finn, I want her there. " Rachel sat up in bed, looking down at Finn.

"I use to go over to her house when I came home from school. We would have long talks about you and how much I still loved you." Rachel was getting really excited now. She started bouncing in bed, with Finn chuckling, looking at her.

"Oh Finn. She was so mad at my Dad for letting my Mom try to manipulate my life. She understood my reasons for letting you go and always thought that we would be back together. She will be so excited. I can ask her at my parents' cookout. My Nana Berry will be my witness."

"Great! We have our witnesses, then," exclaimed Finn. "And my Mom will be the first person we tell, okay?"

"Of course. I owe her so much." Rachel let out a squeal. "So, in less than 48 hours, I will be Mrs. Finn Hudson." She hugged herself.

"What time do you want to do this?"

"Well, the courthouse opens at 8:30, so let's to the clerk's office say around 9-9:30. We can apply for the license and then we can have Kurt, Puck and Nana meet us at, say 10?"

"I'll get on it later today. Puck will be at my house for the cookout and I can tell him and Kurt at the same time. But, I want to go to the mall later today and buy our rings. I want at least that part to be traditional. Okay?"

"Yes, my..." Rachel giggled, "my fiance'. And I'll tell Nana the details at my parents' cookout. Oh Finn," Rachel said, diving on him and hugging him tightly. "Thank you, thank you!"

"For what?"

"For forgiving me and loving me and making me the happiest woman on this earth!"

**A/N: The song playing during Finchel's lovemaking is "For You I Will" by Monica. One last chapter after this one and then the epilogue. Thanks for the wonderful reviews/follows/favorites. Hope you still are enjoying my efforts to continue Finchel and Finn's happy ending. **


	7. Chapter 7

Truth Is

**A/N: One last chapter after this and then the epilogue. Again, thanks to all who have followed this story. Hope you have enjoyed it. Finchel is forever as far as I'm concerned.**

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Songs are the property of the writers/singers. Glee characters are the property of Glee writers and producers._

Chapter 7

_July 4th_

"Rachel Berry _soon-to-be_-Hudson, get out here or I'm leaving you!" Finn had left Rachel getting dressed in his bedroom. He had carried their bags with their change of clothes down to his car. He was now waiting for Rachel at the kitchen bar, sipping on a glass of juice.

"Rachel! I'm headed for the door and I know your parents will be _so_ glad to see _only_ me at their cookout. Their favorite boyfriend of their daughter's!"

Rachel ran out of the bedroom with her flip flops in her hand and her cell phone up to her ear. "Okay Pam, I'll see you at my parent's house so that I can meet your cousin."

Rachel headed toward the door, rolling her eyes at Finn as he followed behind her. "Okay, bye Pam." Rachel slid her phone closed, stopping in front of Finn beside the car.

"Finn Hudson! It's your fault I am running late and then you have the nerve to rush me!" Finn chuckled as Rachel put her hands on her hips, having to look way up at him since she was wearing flip flops. "It's not funny, you...you pervert you!"

He wrapped his arms around her, laughing. "You are so cute when you get mad, Babe! And I'm not a pervert." Rachel huffed at him. "_You _attacked _me_ in the shower."

He opened the door for her to climb into the Range Rover and then went around and slid into the driver's seat. "I did not, Finn! You pounced on me as soon as you woke up this morning," Rachel said, shaking her finger at him.

"Morning wood, Babe, morning wood. What's a man suppose to do?"

"Morning wood, my ass. I didn't get to sleep until around 3 this morning, Mister. You are insatiable."

"Me?" asked Finn, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, you! After we were finished in the bedroom I thought I had slayed that dragon, quite well, thank you. But noooo! You followed me into the shower still with that...that thing pointed at me."

"To save time, Rach. I didn't tell you to back me into the wall and jump me. I can barely keep up with you, you little horn dog," Finn laughed.

"Horn dog!" Rachel popped him on the arm. "Well, we'll see whose the horn dog. I'm going home tonight and sleeping in my own bed." Rachel huffed and then crossed her arms over her chest. "Alone. You're not suppose to sleep with me tonight anyway. Not before we get married tomorrow."

"You've got a deal, little Missy. Let's see who holds out the longest." Finn laughed as he pulled into the Berry's driveway. They then walked hand-in-hand to the backyard. Rachel searched for her parents as Finn took in a deep breath beside her.

"Relax, Finn. My Mom and Dad will be on their best behavior in front of their friends." Rachel spotted her Dad standing behind the outdoor bar. "Come on, there's Dad." Rachel led him over.

"Hi, Dad," Rachel said, giving him a hug. "Looks like everyone is having fun."

"Yes, yes." He then reaches his hand out to Finn. "Finn, glad you could make it."

"Wouldn't miss it, sir." Finn looked around as Rachel smiled up at him. "Everything looks nice, Mr. Berry. How is the bartending going?"

"Good, very good. That Italian wine you picked out is such a big hit. Would you and Rachel like a glass?"

"Sure," said Finn. He looked down at her. "Rachel?"

"Yes, thanks Dad."

"What's this I hear about you owning a club, Finn?" Rachel's Dad asked as he poured their wine, handing each a glass.

"Yes, Sir. I bought the old Yadkin warehouse on Summerset, restored it."

"Oh, that's a good spot. That old building has been empty for a number of years. But looks like it had a pretty solid framework."

"Yes, it did. I had my contractors and architect look it over before I bought it. But, after a lot of work and sweat, it's doing pretty good."

"Glad to hear that. What's the name of it? Me and the wife might pay you a little visit."

Rachel looked up and noticed her Mom coming over. She hugged her and Finn. Her Dad poured her Mom a mixed drink although Rachel thought her Mom looked like she was already pretty tipsy.

"What are you guys talking about?" asked her Mom. "Looks pretty serious."

"Oh, Finn was just telling Dad about his club," answered Rachel, putting her arm around Finn's waist.

"Oh yes, Finn," replied Mrs. Berry. "Congratulations on it's success. I heard it was doing quite well. Very popular with the college crowd."

"Thanks, Mrs. Berry. I was just telling your husband about it." Finn then turned to Mr. Berry. "I named it _**Taylor's**_ for a special reason." He then smiled at Rachel. "And, I've added a cigar/sports bar."

"And," added Rachel, proudly, "it has two dance floors with two complete bars."

Mrs. Berry's eyes widened. "Uh, that's an original name for a club, I guess. I'm happy that it is doing well. Anyway, you kids get something to eat, drink, swim and have fun," she continued, pointed her glass out across the layout. "Oh and Rachel, Greg is here. Come on, I'll take you over to speak to him."

Rachel groaned. "Mom, why did you invite him? You knew Finn was coming with me."

"First of all, dear, Greg is one of your co-workers, part of your father's firm. Secondedly, I didn't think Finn would actually _come_. After all, I was sure he would probably be going to his family's little gathering."

Finn coughed behind Rachel. Rachel rolled her eyes at her mother's thoughtless statement. She could be such a classless bitch, something, with her passive-aggressive statements.

"Finn and I will go over and speak with him. I've wanted Finn to meet him, anyway. Now is as good of a time as any," replied Rachel.

"Rachel, don't you think..."

"Mom, not up for discussion. Just stop it now or Finn and I are leaving," Rachel said sharply to her mother. She then grabbed Finn by the hand, headed toward Greg.

Finn stopped halfway. "Rachel, I'll let you speak with Greg alone. I think that would be better. I'll just get a small plate and maybe talk with your Dad. Okay, babe?"

"Are you sure, Finn?" Rachel didn't want to leave him alone, well aware of the fact that Finn didn't know many people here. And she knew he wasn't totally comfortable around this crowd.

"I'm sure. Go ahead. I'll be just fine." He winked at her and turned toward one of the buffet tables.

Rachel followed her mother over to where Greg was talking with two other people Rachel didn't know. "Greg," said her mother, sugary sweet. "Look who just arrived." She then gently pushed Rachel toward him and then left to talk with her other guests.

"Rachel, hi," said Greg, politely. He then turned toward the two people he had been talking with. "Nice seeing you again but I need to have a little chat with this lovely lady, if you don't mind." They nodded in agreement and left, leaving Rachel standing alone in front of Greg.

"So Rachel. You look fantastic. Looks like I'm going to get to see that nice tiny red bathing suit after all," he said, smiling down at her.

"Yeah, I guess so, Greg. So, are you enjoying yourself?" _Why does this feel so awkward? Especially now that Greg had grabbed her elbow trying to pull her in closer. _

"Yes, I am. Especially now that you are here. Are you here alone? Can I get my hopes up again for the next date?"

"Sorry Greg, but I'm here with someone." She turns toward Finn who smiles back at her. "That's Finn Hudson. He's my...my boyfriend. We are only staying for a little while then we are heading over to his Mom's."

"Finn Hudson, eh? Is he the reason why we never went beyond the friend thing?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes. He's been away for awhile but he's back now. We are totally exclusive and I'm in love him. I always have been. Even while he was away." She placed her hand on his arm. "I'm so sorry, Greg, if I made you think that we could ever be more than just friends. Finn and I have a long history and now that we are back together, well, he's it for me." Rachel stopped herself from going further and before she slipped up and revealed too much about her plans.

"Well, your Dad had said that there was a man in your past but that you hadn't seen each other for a number of years. So, is Finn that man and is he back to stay?"

"Yes, Finn is the only man I have ever loved. And I...well I never stopped loving him. And that was the problem. I tried getting past what we had, the love we shared. That's why I ended up dating you those few times but it wasn't fair to neither of us. I am so sorry, Greg."

"Oh, I can see it in your eyes, how they shine when you just say his name. Well, I hope Finn knows that he is a very lucky guy." Rachel nods. "And he had better treat you right because if he slips up just once, I'll be there. Okay?"

"Thank you, Greg, but_ I'm_ the lucky one. Finn is a wonderful person." She smiles at Greg and then turns to look at Finn. She frowns as she notices he's talking with her cousin, Felicia, who is the biggest flirt in Guilford County.

She turns back to Greg. "Would you like to meet him?" she says, anxious to get to Finn before Felicia jumps him. 

"Yes, that would be fine. I want to see if this Finn guy is all you make him out to be." He chuckles as Rachel led him over to where Finn was standing. She quickly slipped her arm around his waist, staring over at her cousin, Felicia, who looked surprised.

"Felicia, I see you have met my boyfriend, Finn." Felicia smiled and nodded.

"Didn't know he was taken, Rachel. He is very sweet. How long have you two been together? He wasn't here last year. Or the year before, come to think of it."

Finn spoke up, placing a kiss to Rachel temple. "Let's just say, I've been hers for 10 years, and counting."

Rachel smiled as Felicia's eyes widen and then she walked away. "Nice seeing you again, Cousin Felicia," Rachel said sarcastically to her cousin's retreating back. She then turned to Finn, smiling. "Finn, baby. This is Gregory Williams. He is a fellow attorney at my father's firm. Greg, this is Finn Hudson, my boyfriend."

They two shook hands."Finn, are you a lawyer, too?" asked Greg.

"No, no way," Finn answered, shaking his head. "That's Rachel's thing. I own a night club here in Greensboro. _**Taylor's**_, a new club up on Summerset."

"Oh yes. I've heard about it. Quite the success. A lot of my clients have been raving about it. I have been meaning to stop by there. I even tried to get Rachel to go with me there on a date."

"Oh really?" asked Finn, surprised and looking down at Rachel with widened eyes.

Rachel blushed and then cleared her throat. She then whispered to Finn. "I'll tell you later."

Smiling, Finn said, "Oh, you did, did you? Well, maybe you can get your own girl and stop by sometime." Rachel pinched Finn's waist, making him flinch. "Uh, well nice meeting you Greg," he continued as Rachel then grabbed his hand.

"Come on Finn, let's go to the bathhouse and change into our suits so we can swim," Rachel said, pulling him away from Greg. "See you later Greg, at work, I meant."

As they were changing clothes, Rachel frowned over at Finn. "Finn Hudson, I can't believe you said that to Greg. He is innocent."

"Well, I just figured out he has been trying to hit on the boss's daughter, looking at you all dreamy-eyed. Is he one of your conquests while I was gone?"

"Finn, he was not a '_conquest_'. I went out with him a couple of times but it didn't amount to anything." Rachel was pulling of her shorts and trying them into her bag.

"Oh, really?" he asked as they headed for the pool. "Did he kiss you?"

"Yes, but it meant nothing, Finn." She then turned towards him. "Listen you. It came to nothing and I refused to go out with him again because of _you_. I loved _you_...I love _you _and there never was anyone else and there will never _be_ anyone else."

"I know, Rach. I just wanted to get that in so Mr. Greg Williams knows that he had better back off. You are taken." He bent down and kissed her. "Now, let's swim."

After Rachel pulled off her t-shirt, Finn couldn't keep his eyes or hands off of her. They swim for awhile before showering and changing back into their clothes.

Rachel spotted her Nana Berry as they were headed back to the picnic area. She ran over to her. After they greeted he other, she reintroduced her to Finn. "Nana, Finn and I need to talk to you about something. Can we go into the house because this is very private."

"Sure, honey. Lead the way." They walked with her into the livingroom and sat on each side of her on the couch.

Rachel spoke up. "Nana, I just found out that you played a big part in Finn and I getting back together."

Ruth Berry let out a laugh. "Well, Rachel. I knew how heartbroken you were and how much you two still loved each other. I just kept Finn's mom updated on your whereabouts and such."

"Mrs. Berry..." Finn started.

"Nana Berry, Finn. Please."

"_Nana_ Berry, I just want to thank you for all you've done for us over these past 5 years. I never would have known that Rachel still wanted me let alone still loved me if you hadn't spilled the beans."

"Well, Finn. Rachel talked with me in confidence but I just had to break that confidence to your mother. We both knew that the two of you were suffering so much being apart. It just wasn't fair, the things that Rachel was being fed by her parents and friends. Telling her to move on and such nonsense. I knew that my Rachel could only be happy with you, Finn. You two belong together and happy. Living your lives the way _you_ see fit. Not the way other people thought was best for you."

She put her hands on both their shoulders, smiling from one to the other. "And I can see that both Carole's and my goals were accomplished. Rachel, I have never seen you so happy. You're just glowing, honey," she finished, rubbing Rachel's face.

"I am, Nana. Finn makes me so happy."

"I can see." She reached over and rubbed Finn's face next. "So handsome, too. If I was younger..."

"Nana!" Rachel yelled , surprised at her grandmother's forwardness. Finn blushed.

"Anyway," said Rachel, putting her arm around her grandmother, "Nana, I need to ask you something. This is just between a few people so you must swear yourself to secrecy."

"Oh my," said an excited Ruth Berry. "What is it?"

"Finn and I are getting married!"

"Oh really? When?"

"Tomorrow. At the courthouse around 10 in the morning. And that's why we needed to talk with you."

"Wow. Getting married." She looks up at Finn, then Rachel. "Well, I'm not surprised. Or shocked even. Takes more than that to shock this ol' lady." She laughed as the crinkles formed in the corners of her eyes. She reached up and held both their hands, smiling up at them. "You two belong together."

Rachel hugged her. "So, Nana. We need witnesses. And I want you to be my witness."

"Me?"

"Yes, Nana. When Finn was gone, you listened to me. I spent many days curled up on your bed, crying in your knew how I truly felt about Finn and why I had to let him go." Rachel was misty-eyed now. "You knew how much I was hurting," she continued with a trembling voice. "You alone let his mother know that I still wanted and needed him."

"I know, my Rachel, I know. But it all turned out so well in the end, didn't it honey?" Rachel nods, drying up the tears. "And, I would be so honored to stand up for you two as you say your vows."

"Oh, Nana, thank you, thank you." Rachel says, kissing her Nana on the cheeks.

Finn steps in. "So, we'll get my brother Kurt or my friend Puck to pick you up around 9:30 in the morning, if that's okay?"

She smiles up at Finn. "That will be fine, young man. Oh, I'm so happy for you two!" she squeals, similar to a teenaged Rachel. Ruth Berry was petite like Rachel and Rachel had inherited a lot of her mannerisms, also.

"So," continued Nana Berry, raising up out of her seat, "let's go back out there so I can eat." She then turns to Rachel, "and don't worry about your parents, especially your Dad. After you tell them I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind! Probably the both of them!"

Rachel and Finn laughed as they head back out to the backyard. She then turns to Finn, "I'm ready to go. What about you?"

"Sure, if you are."

"Good. Let's go find my parents and say our goodbyes."

"I can't believe how they can have a cookout and no music," Finn voiced as they headed toward her parents.

"They rarely have music at this things. Mom says music interferes with the conversations, trying to shout during conversations. She treats this like a business meeting every year. Just wait until Labor Day. Ugh! Boring! Oh look, there's my friend Pam. Come on Finn, I want to introduce you." Rachel drags Finn over.

"Pam!" Rachel exclaims. They hugged each other. "I want you to meet my boyfriend, Finn Hudson. Finn, this is a friend of mine from college, Pam Harrison."

Finn and Pam exchange greetings and Rachel stands and chats with her for awhile. Pam introduces the both of them to her cousin, Lucinda, who is visiting from Georgia. Pam whispers in Rachel's ear about how cute Finn is as Lucinda nods her head vigorously agreeing. "I know," says Rachel, not even attempting to be modest.

After finding her parents, Rachel and Finn say their goodbyes. "Oh, I'm disappointed, Rachel," says her mother, frowning. "You are leaving so soon?"

"Yes, Mom. I told you we were heading over to Finn's Mom's house. It was nice but we've got to head out."

"Okay but where is Greg? Have you said goodbye to him?"

"I don't know, Mom. He's_ your_ guest, not _mine_. Bye."

With that, Rachel grabbed Finn's hand and they headed over to his mother's home.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

"Oh Rach, we've got time. Let's stop by the jewelry store and get our rings." Finn said, looking up at the time displayed on the dashboard. "That really nice jewelry store in the mall is open today."

"Oh," said Rachel, clapping her hands. "yes, yes, yes. This is so exciting, Finn." She watched as Finn pulled into a parking spot and they clasped hands as they hurried into the mall. "But, I only want a plain wedding band for us both. That's all I need."

Finn guided her toward the jewelry store. "That's fine but I want to get you a nice engagement ring later on to go with it."

"Finn, I don't need an engagement ring." She laid her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into him.

They ended up choosing matching platinum plain wedding bands. As Finn stood at the register to pay, Rachel came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, lying her head on his back. "Are you okay, baby?" asked Finn her, glimpsing over his shoulder.

Rachel was trying to hold the tears back. This was so emotional for her. She had dreamed of this for years, with no idea that it would actually happened. Especially during the years they were apart. She had only hoped that this day would come but she didn't really know that it would. Finn had been so far away, not knowing how much she still loved him. "Yeah, I'll be fine," she finally said.

After Finn paid they stepped outside of the store. He wrapped his arms around Rachel and just hugged her for awhile, rocking this both back and front slowly. Taking in the moment and the feelings of what those rings would represent to them shortly. Then he wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they walked slowly to the car and headed for Finn's mother's house.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"Finn! Rachel!" shouted Carole Hudson as she made her way toward them. Rachel shyly stood behind Finn, not sure of how Carole felt about her at this point. Even after Finn reassured her that his mother was still very fond of her. Beach music was blasting from a set of speakers in the back yard.

"Mom," Finn said, gathering her in for a big hug. "We finally made it."

Carole then look at Rachel and smiled. "Rachel dear, I'm so glad you could come."

"Uh, thanks for inviting me, Mrs. Hudson."

"Rachel, you know better than that. I'm still Carole to you," said Finn's mother, smiling brightly at her. "Honey, please relax. I hold no animosity towards you whatsoever."

"You don't?" asked Rachel, looking completely surprised.

"Honey, no. I know you were just thinking of my Finn. If I felt any differently towards you, why would I have worked so hard to get you two back together? Huh?"

Rachel finally relaxed and gave Carole a teary hug, kissing the older lady on the cheek. "Thank you, Carole. And thanks for having me here."

"So," said Finn, grabbing Rachel's hand, "that's that. Now, where's the food?" Rachel and Carole laughed as they followed Finn to the food table.

After Rachel had fixed her plate, she noticed Kurt and Puck sitting in lawn chairs near one of the picnic tables. "Kurt, Puck," she greeted them as she approached them with her plate.

"Well, well. You let my boy come up for some air, finally?" asked Puck, grinning.

"And hello to you too, Puckerman." She then turned and smiled at Kurt. "Kurt, hello."

Kurt smiled back at her as she sat down at the picnic table. "Rachel. You look wonderful. You're glowing and your eyes are shining. What have you and my brother been up to?"

"Believe me, Kurt," smirked Puck. "You don't want to know. For the last three days, I think I've seen Hudson for about 5 minutes and I live with him."

"For your information, Puckerman, Finn and I are just merely making up for the past 5 years. You're just not used to seeing two people who are truly, deeply, and madly in love with each other." Rachel lifted her finger and pointed at him. "You're only use to loose hoes and bimbo sluts so don't even start with me." Rachel shoveled a spoonful of potato salad into her mouth. Kurt laughed at Puck who slid down in his chair, quiet for the moment.

"Kurt," Rachael said, "I heard you did the playlist for the cookout." Kurt nodded. "Well, it sounds great. I love that beach theme."

"Oh, that's just the tracks now. I've got quite the variety. That beach stuff is mostly for Mom and her crowd. You know, shagging and swing dancing."

Rachel turned to see Finn headed toward them with his second plate of food, leaving his Mom who was talking with an older lady. He came and sat down beside Rachel.

He kissed Rachel between bites of peach cobbler. "Finn, yuck!" said Kurt. "Can't you two do that _after_ you finish that food that's hanging out of your mouth?"

"Fuck off, Kurt," said Finn. "I can kiss Rachel whenever I want." He then winked at Rachel. "Right, babe?"

Rachel smiled, nodding her head and kissing him lightly on his lips that tasted sweet from the dessert. "Oh good god!" moaned Puck. "If one of you told the other to fly to the fucking moon, you would do it. And where the hell have you been anyway, Hudson?"

"Well, if you must know. I spent last night making sweet love to my Rachel," said Finn as he watched Kurt frown, rise up and head over toward a group of people standing nearby. "Anyway, we just left Rachel's parents' cookout. Where have you been?"

"Well, last night I hooked up with this girl I've seen in the club a couple of times. She said she knew you two."

"Oh, yeah?" asked Rachel, sipping on her lemonade.

"Yeah, said she went to high school with you. Name's Santana. Hot, hot Latina! Bam!"

"Santana Lopez?" asked Rachel.

"Yeah, that's her name. You remember her, Rachel?" asked Puck.

"Sure. We used to hang out sometime. But I haven't seen her since the summer after we graduated. Last I heard she was living in Denver."

"Yeah, she went to school there and got her degree in P.E. She's coaching, too. I think it's soccer or some shit like that."

"So, Puck. You got this hots for Santana?" asked Finn.

"She's got the hots for _me_. But yeah, I like her. We're gonna see where this goes. At least until she goes back to Colorado."

"Well, treat her right, Puckerman. She's feisty but she's good people."

Puck winked at Rachel. "Like gold, Berry, like fucking gold."

_**Carolina Girl**_ came blasting through the speakers. Rachel saw Finn look up at his mother, who was standing nearby. Several couples were dancing around the lawn. "Rach, I'll be back in a minute," Finn said as he rose up, kissing her on the cheek. "Gotta go dance with my other favorite girl." He headed toward his mother.

Rachel watched Finn as he pulled his mother over to the other dancing couples. They were dancing the smoothest version of the beach shag she had seen. She didn't know Finn could shag so well. It gave her chills seeing him so gracefully twirling his mother. Then he would twirl her back into him and she would giggle like a teen as he smiled down at her.

He was so very close to his Mom. Rachel know how he had taken it upon himself to be there for her now that his Dad was gone. Rachel knew then and there that Carole _had_ to be at their ceremony tomorrow. She wouldn't have it any other way.

_**Later that evening...**_

Rachel had such a fun, relaxing time at Finn's mother's house. She was introduced to so many of Finn's relatives and neighbors until she just gave up trying to remember names and just smiled as Finn drug her through the crowd. She danced with Puck until Finn noticed Puck trying to pull Rachel in too close and quickly put a stop to that. She chatted with Kurt and his friends until she found herself tiring from the long day.

She found Finn talking with some of his older neighbors that she couldn't remember their names. "Finn," she whispered in his ear, "I think we should talk with Kurt and Puck about, you know." Finn nodded.

"Let's get them to go in the house, maybe the kitchen?" asked Finn.

"Yeah," said Rachel, "but I want Carole there, too."

She saw Finn smile. "Are you sure Rachel? That's four witnesses."

"I know but each and every one of them is so important to us. And Carole is your mother, Finn. She_ has_ to be there."

"Okay, you go get her. I'll round up Puck and Kurt and I'll meet you in the kitchen." He bent down and gave her a firm kiss on the lips and walked off. Rachel turned, searching for Carole in the dwindling crowd of people. She spotted her and walked over to her.

"Carole, Finn and I need to talk with you."

"Okay hon, but where's he at?"

"Well, this is sort of important and," Rachel looked around, "well, it's private so we want you to come into the kitchen."

"Oh wow. This sounds serious. Okay, let's go."

When she and Rachel entered the kitchen Puck, Kurt and Finn were already seated at the bar. Carole took a seat beside them, each looking at the other with questionable eyes. Kurt was the first one to speak up. "Finn, what's going on?"

Finn held up his hand. "Hold on, Kurt." He then pulled a stool out for Rachel to sit down in front of them as he stood behind her, hands on her shoulder. "As you know, Rachel and I are back together, stronger than ever." Rachel puts her hands on top of his and smiles over her shoulder.

"We have spent the last few days re-establishing our relationship and found that what we had before is only stronger now. As we have grown, even apart our love has grown. It's a more mature, more intense love that we share now." Puck cleared his throat and mumbled something that Rachel didn't quite understand. She glared at him. "Anyway," continued Finn, "we know now that we are going to be together forever. There is no one else for me but Rachel and I'm it for her."

Then they heard Kurt gasp. "Oh my god! You two are getting married, aren't you?" Everyone turned towards him, mouths open.

"Kurt," asked Finn, "how did you know?"

"Come on Finn. I kinda guessed it when you two walked up together earlier. And, after what you just said. I can just see it in both your eyes. Your body language. The finality of it all."

"Me too," said Carole, quietly sniffling. They all turned toward her. "At first I thought it was just wishful thinking on my part but the more I observed you two since you got here, I just..." She paused to wipe away a stray tear. "I just knew." Then she sobbed out. "Oh, Finn! I'm just so happy for you. Last year this time, you were so unhappy it made my heart hurt." Kurt handed his Mom a box of tissue that was sitting close to the bar, after taking one for himself. Puck looked at him and rolled his eyes.

Then Carole stood up to hug both of them, leaving her arm around Rachel. "I'm just...thank you, Rachel. Thank you so much for putting a smile back on my baby's face. For putting the light back in those beautiful amber eyes of his, his father's eyes." She squeezed Rachel's shoulder and then sat back on her stool, dabbing at her eyes with a fresh tissue.

"Well," said Finn with tears glistening his own eyes, "what we wanted was...well. Rachel and I decided we don't want to wait."

"Oh," said Puck, finally getting over his shock and speaking up. "Damn, Hudson." Finn frowned at him as Carole hit him on the shoulder. "Ooops! Sorry Mama Hudson. But, when are you gonna do this?"

"Yeah," agreed Kurt. "I'm leaving to go back to LA Sunday and I don't think Carole, Rachel and I can plan the wedding and all this long distance. I don't know when I could fly back."

Carole looked over at the couple. "You are doing this soon, aren't you?"

Rachel and Finn nodded. "How soon?" asked Kurt, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two.

"Tomorrow," said Rachel, softly. Finn bent down and kissed the top of her head, showing his support.

"Tomorrow!" exclaimed all three of the people sitting across from the couple.

"Calm down," said Finn. "We are doing this now whether you agree or not." He saw the shock on his friend and family's faces. "Look, Rachel and I love each other very much. We always have since we were in the 10th grade. 5 years and almost 2500 miles didn't change any of that. And now that we have found each other again, we are NOT going to put off this...this inevitable life together any longer. We have lost so much time we can't and we won't wait any longer. So," ended Finn, breathing heavy now, "we are doing this and we would love for the three of you to be there with and for us."

"Please," begged Rachel. She was so proud of this new, mature and determined Finn that had migrated back to her. "You three mean so much to Finn and we want you to witness this." Rachel then turned to Finn's mother. "Carole, I love your son so very, very much. I never, ever stopped. He means the world to me. He is my world." Rachel was crying now with tears flowing freely down her face. Finn was rubbing her back. "I want to make him so very happy for the rest of our lives. Will you be our other witness, please?"

Carole was speechless and just could only nod her head. She stood up and hugged the both of them. "Oh, Finn. Rachel. Of course I'll be your witness."

"And," said Finn, with his arm around his Mom's waist. "I would like for you two to be there, too." he said, looking over at his brother and best friend.

They both nodded. "Of course we will," said Kurt, looking over at a teary Puck. Shocked to see Noah Puckerman crying, he continued. "Won't we Puck?"

Puck was nodding, unable to speak.

"I can't believe it," Rachel said. "Puckerman is speechless." He gave her a watery smile. "Oh my, he's actually crying." Rachel stood up and went over and hugged Puck.

"I just...you know." He then laid his head on Rachel's arm as she continued to hug him. "I'm just so glad to see my boy so happy. Finally after all of the sh-I mean crab he went through." He then turned his head so his chin was on Rachel's breast. Smiling up at her, he said, "You smell so good, Rachel. No wonder my boy Hudson hasn't come up for air..."

Rachel gasped and pushed Puck's head off her arm and breast. "You are disgusting!" Carole shook her head. Kurt giggled.

Finn scowled at him. "You wanna come to my wedding in one piece tomorrow? Stop hitting on my girl, Puckerman!"

Puck raised his hands in a defensive way. "Just trying to yank Rachel's chain." Then he gave her a kissing motion as she huffed and returned to her seat across from them.

"So," said Kurt, finally settling down after watching Puck's antics with Rachel. "What time do you need us at the courthouse tomorrow?"

"Well," said Finn, "we've already bought the rings. We thought we would go to the clerk of courts around 8:30 in the morning and by the time we get everything together...well, think you can all get there around 10?"

"I don't see why not," answered Kurt. "Mom, we can ride together." He then turned to Puck. "Want us to pick you up?"

"Well," said Rachel, "we were hoping someone could pick up my grandmother. She is our other witness."

"Oh, Rachel," said Carole. "That's so sweet. Over the last couple of years, I feel like we are sisters. But, what about your..."

"No," said Rachel, cutting her off, sadly. "My parents won't be told until afterwards. No way do I want them there. For now, it will be just the four of you. So, anyway, can you pick her up, Puck? She lives in a retirement condo over in Pleasant Garden, which isn't too far out of the way. I can text her address to you later."

Puck winked at her. "Glad too, _Miss_ Berry."

"Well, glad you got that in, Mr. Puckerman, because this is the last day you can call me _that_!"

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

"Wow, that went well," said Finn as he grabbed Rachel's hand as they headed toward home. He then pulled their clasped hands up to his lips to kiss the back of her hand.

Rachel smiled up at him. "Yeah, I can't wait until in the morning so I can finally be Mrs. Finn Hudson." There was silence as they both were lost in their own thoughts. "Finn!" exclaimed Rachel, "You just missed my exit."

"So. I thought we were headed to my place."

"Oh no you don't, Mister. I'm going to my apartment. I haven't forgotten about this morning. Rushing me and talking smack about me."

"Rach, I can't believe you are gonna try to hold out sleeping with me until tomorrow."

"Take me home, Finn. My place. I _can_ resist you, you know."

"No you can't. But," said Finn, taking the next exit. "I'll take you home. And don't call me whining about being lonesome and needing me."

"I won't. I'm going to take a relaxing bath and then lay in my big fluffy bed and read. Then, I'm going to turn out the lights and snuggle into my goose down pillow and dream about tomorrow."

Finn smiled over at her as he pulled onto her street. Parking the car, he walked her up to her door. "So, goodnight, Babe." He pulled her into him, their lips almost touching. "This is the last night you will go to bed as Rachel Berry." He then kissed her deeply making Rachel legs weak. _No, she would not give in_. Finn would be sleeping _without_ her tonight. She knew his little tricks.

Rachel gave him a final smack on the lips as she opened her door. "Goodnight, Finn. I love you and I'll see you in the morning."

As Finn headed for his car, he waved, smiling and said, "Love you, too and goodnight, baby."

After Rachel had her bubble bath, she settled down in her bed and opened her Kindle, attempting to concentrate on her book. Her mind kept drifting off to a certain real tall, sexy brown-haired man that she missed as soon as he climbed back into his car. She couldn't get her mind off of tomorrow. Looking up at her clock she noticed that it was only 9:15. Moaning, she threw her Kindle down on the bed and rolled over onto her extra pillow. _Oh, goodness!_ It smelled just like her Finn. She wrapped her arms around the pillow and inhaled his scent.

_Rachel, you can do this!_ _You can go one night without him. Without those big, strong arms wrapping around your tiny body making you feel so warm and safe. Without those beautiful brown eyes looking at you with so much love. You survived 5 years without it! Just because for the last 3 days you have spent every possible minute with him doesn't matter. You are strong. You can hold out. _"Aggghhhh!" Rachel yelled out._ I give up!_

She grabbed her cell phone and tapped #1 on her speed dial. After hearing it ring for the 5th time, Rachel rolled her eyes. _Finn Hudson, I know you aren't ignoring my call!_ After the 8th ring, his phone went to voicemail.

"_**This is Finn. Can't come to the phone at this moment but if you leave your name and number, I'll call you back."**_ Beep! Beep! Beep!

"**Finn Hudson, in about 12 hours I will be your wife and if you know what's good for you, you will answer this damn phone!" **

Rachel was breathing heavily as she thought of a way to get a rise out of him, in more ways than one. Hah!

"**Finn! Alright, I'm hanging up and I'm going to look for my vibrator, Hudson!" **

Rachel disconnected the call and laid her phone on the bed. _Take that, Mr. Hudson! _She then counted to 10.

_5, 6, 7, 8._...Ringggg! A smile crossed Rachel's face as she saw Finn's face appear on her cell. She picked up her phone, answering it. "Yes?" she asked, innocently.

She could hear Finn breathing heavily, like he had been running. _"Rach, did you call me?"_

"Yes I did. And stop acting surprised."

"_I'm not. I'm just curious about that...that voicemail you left me."_ Rachel could hear the arrogance in his voice. _"You wanted...I mean, did you need something, from me, I meant."_

Rachel knew that Finn stumbled through his speech when he was nervous, excited, or aroused. She was thinking it was the latter, based on that voicemail she had left. So, her plan was working. "Well, Finn. I was just thinking that I missed you and wanted to hear your voice." Rachel intentionally used her sultry voice.

"_Missed me, Rach?"_ She heard him chuckling on the other end. _"It's only been like an hour. You __**need**__ me, don't you Rach? Go ahead, admit it?"_

"I...I just miss you, like I said. I can do this."

"_Do what, Rach?"_ Finn asked.

"I can spend _one_ night without you. After all, after tonight we will be together forever."

"_Oh yeah?"_

"Yes," said Rachel, now getting aroused just from hearing his deep, smooth voice. "It will make tomorrow night that much more special. So, I'm going to hang up now. I just wanted to hear your voice and now I can go to sleep."

"_Okay. So, goodnight Rachel. I'll be by to pick you up in the morning around 8. Sleep well and I love you."_ Rachel could hear the teasing in his voice.

"Finnnnn!" whined Rachel.

"_What is it, Rachel? What's wrong, baby?"_

"Why don't you come over here, please? There you have it. I broke, okay! Now are you happy? I need you. I can't sleep without you anymore. You win, baby," Rachel conceited.

"_Did you say,'please'?"_ Finn teased again.

Rachel raised up. She could have sworn she heard someone at her door. Walking toward her door, she whispered to Finn, "Finn, I hear someone at the door."

"_Well, don't open it Rachel," _he whispered back._ "See who it is through the peephole like I warned you before." _Why was _he_ whispering, Rachel wondered.

"Okay, hold on." Rachel walked toward the door, slowly focusing her eye against the peephole. On the other side she saw a smiling Finn Hudson. Unlocking and yanking the door open, she jumped into his arms. "Finn!" she whined.

"Hi, baby," Finn replied as she pulled him inside.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she buried her face into his chest.

"I knew you wouldn't last, you little horny toad," he chuckled as Rachel pushed on his chest. "Especially when you threatened me with using your vibrator. I know your games, little lady. So, I packed my things for tomorrow and headed back over here."

Rachel started pulling him toward her bedroom, barely giving him time to pick up his garment bag. "You do know me so well, Finn," Rachel said as she started stripping his clothes off after closing the bedroom door. He reached and pulled down her sleep shorts, helping her to step out of them.

Rachel then pushed him onto the bed, straddling him as she pulled her sleep shirt over her head. "Well, let's get this party started. I have somewhere I've gotta be around 8 in the morning." She then slid down onto him as she looked down at the man that she would love for the rest of her life.


	8. Chapter 8

Truth Is

Chapter 8

Rachel looked out from the tall windows of the modern Guilford County Courthouse. It was 9:55am and her morning had already been quite busy. She and Finn had left her apartment after showering and a quick breakfast, then arrived here to the clerk's office at 8:35. When they arrived, long line had already formed to see the clerks. It was usually busy here on the first day after a big holiday.

Turning around, she noticed Finn sitting on one of the benches fidgeting with the piece of paper he held in his hand. Anyone looking at the two of them would think that they were complete strangers. He must have sensed her looking at him because he looked up and gave her a nervous smile. Rachel smiled brightly back at him.

They were both nervous but excited, each in their own thoughts. Thoughts about what they were about to do, how far they had come, finally back together, where they belonged. They were ready. This was a long timing coming. She had felt a strong connection to him since the first time she had laid eyes on him:

_**10 years ago:**_

_Rachel entered her 3__rd__ period English class bound and determined to talk with her new English teacher about their summer reading assignment. He had some nerve giving them that list of such elementary books to read. How was she ever going to reach her goal of blowing that SAT out of the water with such non-challenging English requirements? She was not wasting this year. _

_Rachel marched right up to his desk to give him a piece of her mind. After she got his attention, she started in on him. "Mr. Haywood, my name is Rachel Berry. I have been assigned to this class but there are a few things we need to get straight if we are going to have a productive year in here."_

"_Ugh, Ms. Berry did you say? Well, I'm Douglas Haywood and I'm glad to have you in my class. But, um Miss, what seems to be the problem?"_

_Rachel laid into him about her thoughts on the summer reading assignment and how she wished they had a choice of AP English in 10__th__ grade and how she had to spend part of her summer on trivial reading. When she was finished with her diatribe she was red in the face, breathing hard and her hair had fallen into her face. _

_After Mr. Haywood had promised her harder and more challenging assignments, she turned in a huff, walking toward the desks. Noticing that all of the first two rows of seats were taken, she saw a smiling, dimpled tall guy pointing at a seat beside him near the back. '__**Wow, he was a very cute guy'**__, Rachel thought. Smiling back at him, she quickly took the seat next to him. __**'Hmm, this might not be such a bad year, after all'**__, Rachel thought. _

_During the class period, she and the guy next to her kept exchanging looks and smiles. Rachel thought he was just about the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen, well except for that gorgeous vampire Rob Pattinson she saw this summer in Twilight. Or that cute tall guy that plays the basketball player on Kyle XY. _

_Anyway, she gathered up her books and she heard his voice: "Hi, my name's Finn. Finn Hudson." She turned around and melted as she saw that smile and those eyes up close, way up close. As her knees almost gave out, Rachel had to sit back down before she fell into a pile of mush right there in front of this beautiful boy. _

"_Um, my name, my name is...Rach..." _

"_Rachel, right?" the cute boy asked. Oh yeah, he said his name was Finn. Finn Hudson. She looked at him, curious as to how he knew her name. _

_He must have read her mind. "Uh, it's on your book bag," he stated, pointing at her backpack. "Rachel is a pretty name," Finn continued, smiling down at her. _

"_Yeah," she replied, clearing her throat, surprised at how shaky her voice sounded. "Rachel Berry. My name is Rachel Berry." (Ugh! Stupid, stupid. He already said that!)_

"_Well Rachel," Finn said, continuing to show that dimpled, beautiful smile, "do you have lunch now? Because I do and maybe we can eat together." Rachel nodded, rising from her seat and following Finn out of the door._

_**Back to present:**_

And that's how she met the man that she was about to marry in about 10 minutes. Smiling again at Finn, she turned back to see Puck and her Nana coming up the steps and entering the courthouse security line. She laughed as she saw Nana Berry punch Puck on the shoulder and then push him towards the door.

"Get away from me, Noah," shouted Nana Berry. "I don't know why they sent a fool to pick me up!" Nana Berry continued mumbling under her breath as she made her way toward Rachel, who was standing in front of the window laughing. "Rachel, where is Finn?" Nana Berry asked, looking around the lobby of the courthouse.

Rachel was about to respond just as Finn walked up beside her, smiling down at her. He bent down and kissed Ruth Berry on the cheek. "Nana Berry, what's wrong?" he asked, looking over at Puck, frowning.

"Aww Finn," whined Puck. "She just didn't like my joke I made coming in."

Ruth Berry turned and shook her finger at Puck (just like her granddaughter). "That...that... **clown** told those security guards to strip search me. Talking about little ol' ladies are always 'packing'. I don't know why you would have this...this poor excuse of a Jewish boy to pick me up! I could have driven myself." Mumbling to herself, she then frowned at Puck.

Finn couldn't hold back the laugh as he looked at Rachel and they both broke out into a laughter. "Nana Berry, Puck was just joking with you," said Finn, apologizing. He placed his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Puck is really a wonderful friend of mine. He meant no harm." Finn said, suppressing further laughter.

"Nana Berry," added Rachel. "You know we wouldn't have you riding with anyone less than honorable. He's really sweet." Rachel wrapped her arm around Finn's waist. "He's Finn's best friend, Nana." She then looked over at Puck, scowling, "Puckerman, apologize to Nana and stop with your foolery."

Puck put his arm around Ruth Berry slowly, smiling down at her. "Grandma, I'm sorry. I thought we had a thing going on," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "I thought we hit it off pretty good on the way over here." He then placed his hand over his heart. "You know I am nothing but an upstanding, honest fellow Jew." He then kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Forgive me?"

She smiled softly at him. "Yes, but behave or I will make you go to temple with me." She then winked at him. "So Rachel, Finn. Who else are we waiting on? It's 10 now," she inquired of the couple.

"Well Nana, Finn's brother and Mom are parking their car now. They just texted me," Rachel said, putting her cell back in her purse. "They should be in here soon. Our appointment isn't until 10:30am in Judge Jennings' chambers. He's in courtroom 12 on the 6th floor so we can head that way once Kurt and Carole get here."

"Oh, good. I haven't seen Carole in a few months. We need to catch up."

"Well," said Finn, who still looked nervous, "Here they come so let's get ready and head upstairs."

After everyone greeted each other, the group headed up to the courtroom. They were scattered throughout the courtroom, waiting for Finn and Rachel's names to be called so they could start the ceremony.

Kurt stood in a corner by the door talking with Ruth Berry and Carole Hudson. Rachel sat on one of the benches, nervously straightening the hem of her sundress. She had decided on an off white skirt suit. It was short sleeved, doubled-breasted with the skirt ending just above her knees. She wore matching off white wedged sandals with cork heels. Her hair was down, flowing curls cascading down her back. She had her diamond posts earrings in with a matching diamond heart pendant necklace.

Looking over at Finn, she sighed at how handsome he looked. He had decided on a navy blue suit with an off white dress shirt and navy tie. Rachel saw Carole coming over to sit next to her, interrupting her swooning over her soon-to-be husband.

"Nervous, honey?" asked Carole as she placed her purse in her lap.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Rachel replied, nervously fingering the buttons on her jacket.

Carole smiled at her, grabbing her hand. "Because, this is the farthest I've seen you from my son since last Friday. "Listen, I know you are nervous, anxious. It's only natural, Rachel." She looked over at her son, who was looking out of the window. "You both are but I think what you and Finn are about to do is just destiny, honey."

"You don't think we are rushing things, Carole?"

"You want the truth?" Carole asked. Rachel nodded. "No. No way. The two of you have always had this...this aura about you. You glow when you are together. For years I watched that little light in my son's eyes dim. He was so lost without you. But look at him now, Rachel. Well, he's a little sweaty and nervous now but since he made that decision last year to work to get you back, he became my old Finn. You are so good for each other and no, I don't think this is too fast. It's about time. So long overdue, dear."

"Thank you Carole. It means so much to me, and Finn, that you support us." She leaned over and kissed her future mother-in-law on the cheek.

"So Rachel, dear," Carole continued, pulling Rachel into her. "In a few minutes, we are all going to walk through those doors and I will be gaining a wonderful, new daughter-in-law. I love you, Rachel and I just want you to know that my son could not have found a more perfect woman to make his wife." She then kissed Rachel on the forehead as Rachel smiled up at her.

Rachel wished her own parents could be so understanding. She missed them being here but this is just what had to be. She didn't want them here if they still doubted her and Finn's relationship. They never trusted her feelings for Finn. They still believed that what she felt for Finn was just an infatuation with her high school sweethearts, something that would fizzle out as she grew older. Well, it had only gotten stronger and they were about to confirm that love.

Blowing out a breath, trying to calm her nerves, she looked over at Finn, who was talking with Puck by the window. She laughed to herself as she overheard their conversation.

"Hey man," Puck said, as Finn continued looking out of the window. "I know you are scared shitless but it's too far to jump out that window."

Finn turned and looked at his best friend as Rachel chuckled. "You _are_ a fool, Puck. Nana Berry was right," Finn said, laughing. "No man. I was not thinking of jumping. Far from it." Finn's eyes misted over, taking in a deep breath. "I was just thinking about where I was emotionally this time last year. My father had just died and I missed Rachel _so_ much, so much that it hurt. I thought that _everything_, every_one_ that I loved was leaving me, one by one. And, I realized that even though I didn't have her, I couldn't stop loving her just like I couldn't stop loving my Dad."

He then looked over at Rachel and smiled. "And now that I have her again, I'm never going to let her go again." He reached over and teasingly punched Puck in the chests. "Oh shit, Puck! She will be Rachel Hudson, man. It's just, it's just so overwhelming."

Puck patted him on the back. "I know man. But, you and Berry are just meant to be. I'm happy for you,bro."

They then looked up and saw the door to the judge's chambers open and a tall, statuesque female with her dark hair pulled up into a bun step out and called their names. Finn came over and grabbed Rachel's hand, whispering to her, "Ready for this, baby?"

She leaned on his arm and replied, "For 10 years, Finn. I am _so _ready."

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"...And by the power vested in me, in the state of North Carolina, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Mr. and Mrs. Finn Christopher Hudson."

Rachel took a deep breath as she looked down at the platinum wedding band Finn had placed on her left ring finger. Tears flowed down both their faces as she looked up at her new husband. "I love you _so_ much, Finn Hudson," Rachel said, wiping away the tears that were flowing down her cheeks.

"And I love you, Rachel Berry Hudson," Finn said, smiling down at her through his own tears. He bent down as Rachel lifted up on her toes to kiss her husband. Her _husband_. _Finn Hudson_. A man she just reunited with just four days ago on the streets of downtown Greensboro. A man she has loved since she was just 15 years old. A man that she had given up 5 years ago, not knowing if he would ever come back to her. But he had. And now he was hers for the rest of their lives.

She pulled away from their kiss and then turned toward her Nana and Carole. She hugged them both, and then hugged a sniffling Kurt and a teary Puck. The group hugged the newlyweds as they congratulated them.

The judge sat down at his desk as his clerk brought in the wedding license. After signing it, he addressed Finn and Rachel. "Now, I need the two of you to sign," he said, smiling up at them, handing each of them a pen. After Finn and Rachel nervously signed they turned toward their family.

"Now, we need your two witnesses to sign," said the judge. Rachel handed her pen to her grandmother and Finn did the same with his mother. They held each other as their witnesses signed their marriage license.

Now everything was official. The clerk explained that the marriage certificate would be entered into the court records under vital statistics and they would receive a certified copy in a few minutes. They thanked everyone, and with their new certificate in their hand, they headed out of the courthouse to start their new life as a married couple.

_X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X_

Finn and Rachel sat at a table on the glassed-in patio at _Cheesecake by Alex_ one hour after they were pronounced husband and wife. They were finishing up the last of the huge slice of red velvet cheesecake they had shared and slowly sipped their iced coffee in virtual silence. Their hands were clasped together, Finn looking at his wedding band that was shining from the sunlight coming through the window.

Rachel felt...different. Did she really know this man that she had just promised her life to? She only knew the 20-year-old-Finn. The one who had looked at life so optimistically, _glass-half-full _Finn. That Finn thought that life would come to him instead of having to go after that life. That Finn hadn't been tarnished or exposed to the harsh realities of life. He hadn't suffered _true_ lost. He only knew that he worked to have money to take her to dinner, to keep his old pickup truck running, to buy the latest video games. He was so innocent.

She looked over at Finn again. Was _this_ Finn any different? Yes, he was more mature. His face was slimmer, his muscles more defined. But he still had those same sparkling amber eyes, deep dimples to his cheek. He even still had those freckles splattered across his nose. His facial features were so well defined now. He was so very handsome.

This Finn had suffered lost. This Finn had fought for what he wanted in life. He now owned a very successful business and still was doing what he loved. He fought to come back to her and she was so, so proud of him. They had both changed. But through all of these changes, they still had held onto their connection, their love for each other. And, yes. This _was_ the right thing for them now.

"Rach? Are you okay?" Finn asked, bringing her out of her deep thoughts. She just smiled back at him.

"Rachel, does this feel weird to you? Like, what have we done?"

Rachel looked up at him with a questionable look. "What?"

"Did we rush into this, baby?" He was now playing with the band on her hand. "Were we so caught up in the joy and the excitement of being back together, being reunited? Were we just so...so caught up in the moment that we just...we just jumped into this without thinking?" Finn asked, looking deeply into her eyes.

Rachel rubbed the back of his hand as she contemplated his questions. "I don't know, Finn. I was just sitting here wondering basically the same thing. It just...I don't know...it feels strange." She then looked over at him, connecting with his eyes again. "What if we made a mistake, Finn?"

"Well," he said, cupping her face. "I'm not sure but I was just thinking that so much has happened in the last years but still, somethings are...I don't know...still the same? You know what I mean?"

"I think I'm following you," she said. "I was sort of questioning the same thing. I'm sure most newly married people kind of feel like this. I look across at you and you feel strange, like I questioned whether or not I really know you."

"See, that's what I'm talking about, Rach. It feels funny but somehow, at the same time, it feels so...so right. Are you following me?"

Rachel nods slowly. "Yeah, yeah. I think we are feeling the same things. But go on, baby."

"Well, I was just thinking, you know? Way back when I was 16 years old I _loved_ you. When we went our separate ways when we were 20, I _loved_ you. And now, 5 years later, I love _you_. I never stopped. We both have changed, we're not so naive about life. We have gone through pain, suffering, longing for each other. But, Rach, 5 years ago I wanted to marry you, spend my life with you and that's what I still wanted last week when I saw you."

"Oh, Finn," she said, looking deep into his eyes. "I know how you feel. I knew when I danced with you in your bedroom way back then and we said we loved each other that I wanted to be your wive. And after the first time we made love together, I woke up lying in your arms and knew then that that's what I wanted the rest of my life to be like."

"And I knew," Finn said, picking up the conversation, "I wanted to come home to you everyday, standing side by side with you as we worked to make our house a home, having babies, growing old together. None of that has changed, Rach. _We_ might have changed but I think it has been for the better." He laughed and then leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"Hell, we'll have arguments, big and little, we'll get mad at each other. We'll have disagreements, mainly because you are so opinionated," he said, winking. "And, after one of your many storm outs, we'll talk, make promises to each other and then, have some awesome make-up sex!"

Rachel giggled, slapping him on the arm. "Finn, some things about you will never change. And, I think this sex is pretty awesome _now_."

"Yeah, it is, babe. But," he continued, more seriously, "we are different, I have to admit. Polar opposites, Rachel, but that's why we work. That's why we are so good together. We keep each other grounded, a wonderful balance. And that's why I know this will work. Me and you Rach, forever." He cupped her face, smiling back at her.

"I know that too, Finn." She took a deep breath. "So, I am so looking forward to spending the next 80 years with you, Mr. Hudson."

"You have a deal, Mrs. Hudson." He bent down and kissed her lightly on the lips. "So, are you going to eat the rest of that cheesecake?" Rachel laughed and pushed the remaining dessert over towards him.

Finn and Rachel left the cheesecake cafe, hand in hand and headed toward Rachel's apartment. She was so happy that her and Finn were in agreement of the strangely exhilarating feeling of being married. Finn was going to drop Rachel off at her apartment so that she could start studying her briefs for her court appearance on Thursday. He was then headed to his club so that he could start on the tasks that had piled up since he was last there.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

Rachel was finishing up reviewing the last brief that her legal assistant had emailed her. It had been hard to concentrate with all of the other thoughts occupying her mind. She was newly wedded! She was Rachel Berry Hudson. Finn Hudson's wife! She let out a silent scream.

Then she frowned. Tomorrow they were going over to her parent's house for dinner and to announce to them that they were married. Her Nana Berry wanted to come along as a "buffer",she had said but Rachel knew she really wanted to go more as an 'enforcer', armed and loaded. She had also asked Carole if she wanted to come along but she had declined, saying that she wouldn't be able to be civil and might make things worse. She was sure that Ruth could handle things for her.

Rachel was sure that Finn wouldn't say much, letting her handle her parents. They would just have to accept it because there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it. She just wished that they would finally accept Finn and the fact that he was in her life for the rest of her life. No amount of their manipulation, schemes, and passive-aggressive behavior was going to change that now.

She knew they loved her but they just needed to let her live her life with who she wanted to live it with. That's just the way it is and they would have to finally realize that she was an adult and could make her own decisions. Sighing, you turned her attention back to the papers in her hand.

Finn had called earlier to say 'hi' and to update her on his schedule. He said he would probably be in his office until about 5-6 but would call when he was on his way over to pick her up.

Stretching, Rachel stood up from her desk and walked over to her briefcase, placing the last of the papers she had been reading into it. Reaching her arms up over her head, she walked into her bedroom to finish packing the boxes she had started packing. They had decided to move into Finn's apartment since it was much larger than hers. It was also closer to both their jobs.

Rachel looked around the small space she had called home for the last 2 months. She had felt so grown-up and independent when she had moved in. She still had 10 months left on her lease so they had decided to sublet it as soon as they found a tenant they could trust. Finn had his realtor working on it.

She sat on her now bare mattress and looked at her beautiful wedding band again. Smiling, she started cleaning out the items in her nightstand, as her phone buzzed, signaling that she had an incoming text. She smiled when she saw her husband's name appear:

"_**Heading out. I'm hungry. Print Works Bistro sound good? See ya in 30."-Finn**_

"_**Sounds good. I'll be ready. Esp for our wedding night ; ) Love you." Mrs. H**_

Rachel started carrying the smaller boxes to the door so that they could carry her things down to Finn's car. She had gone out earlier for lunch and stopped by Victoria's Secret and bought new sleepwear. Now that she was married, she couldn't wear her sleep shorts and tank tops to bed every night now. She had bought a special red negligee for tonight. (Finn always loved her in red.) She smiled, thinking of the things they would get into tonight, as she walked toward the door to let her husband in.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

Finn carried a giggling Rachel across the threshold of their apartment. Letting her slide down out of his arms, he turned her to face him, pulling her into his arms. "Welcome home, Mrs. Hudson." He then pulled her in for a searing kiss.

As Rachel steadied herself enough to speak, she looked up into the eyes of her brand new husband. "I like the sound of that," she breathed out as she pulled him down for another kiss.

Finally pulling away from her, Finn turned towards the door. "I'm gonna go down and bring up the rest of your things, Rach. Why don't you get us a bath ready and I'll join you in a few," Finn said with a smirk on his face.

Rachel pushed him out the door, smiling. "Well, hurry up Finn. Let's consummate this marriage," she giggled, closing the door behind him.

She then turned and headed toward the master bath. She was shocked when she entered. The lights were dimmed down low. There were fresh daisies on the vanity and electric scented candles sitting all around the room. Sitting beside the huge garden tub was a stand with chilling champagne and two long stemmed glasses. Rachel lifted the bottle of wine out of the ice. _Hmm, Italian Asti. She should have known. _Placing the bottle back down into the ice, she saw a small bowl of frozen grapes and a bowl of gouda cheese chunks, Finn's favorite.

Smiling, Rachel starting removing her clothes. She reached in a drawer and pulled out one of her ponytail ties, lifting her hair up into a high ponytail to keep it dry in the tub. She then lowered her body down into the warm bubbles that were already filling the tub. Running more hot water into the tub, she looked up and saw her handsome husband standing in the doorway smiling over at her.

"Finn. This is so sweet of you," she said, sliding down lower into the bubble bath.

"I thought it might be a special way of welcoming you home," he said, He walking over and sitting on the side of the tub. He picked up a frozen grape and bit into it and then bent over and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Want some company?"

"Yes, please," answered Rachel. Finn stood up and pulled his cell out of his pocket, pressing a few buttons and placing it on the vanity. As he quickly undressed, an instrumental version of Anita Baker's _Caught Up In The Rapture_ started playing low from the speaker of their Beats Pill that sat nearby. Seeing her Finn in all his naked glory standing next to the tub made Rachel realize, again, how truly lucky she was. All of that was hers and hers alone. He belonged to her and she was going to make sure that Finn Hudson would always know how much she loved and adored him.

Finn lowered himself into the warm bubbles as Rachel made her way over to his side of the extra large tub, sliding back between his legs. She then laid her head back against his chest, closing her eyes momentarily, enjoying the ambiance. "Here you go, Babe," Finn said, bringing her out of her trance. He handed her a glass of the champagne as they both took small sips. Rachel reached over and they took turns feeding each other the grapes and cheese, washing it down with glasses of the sparkling wine.

After awhile, the water started getting cool. "Ready to get out?" asked Finn, giving Rachel chills not just from the cooler water but because she knew what was coming next. And the champagne was giving her a floating feeling. She felt warm on the inside, knowing that she was about to make love with the only man who she has ever loved.

Rachel attempted to raise up out of the water but Finn held her back. He himself, rising out of the water. He stepped out of the tub and reached for one of the white fluffy robes lying across the vanity chair. He wrapped the robe around himself and then grabbed the smaller robe, helping Rachel out of the tube. He then wrapped her up in the big fluffy robe, turning her into him. Bending down, he kissed her deeply as Rachel's head started spinning and she felt throbbing between her legs.

_That man could take her from 0 to 50 in no time flat, just from one kiss!_ She needed him and she needed him now. "Come on, Finn," she said. "We can clean this stuff up in the morning. Let's go to bed."

Finn smiled down at her. He then picked her up, bridal style, and carried her over to the bed, laying her down in the middle of it. As she laid back on the big, soft pillows, her robe flew open, causing Finn's eyes to widen. He then stood over her, looking down at her, he pressed another button on his phone as a new song started playing from the Pill he had on his dresser.

_**"I stand accused of lovin' you too much**_

_** And I hope it's not a crime**_

_** Cause if it is I'm guilty**_

_** Of lovin' you, you, you"**_

Finn let his robe slide down off his body onto the floor, revealing the huge, firm erection he had as he crawled across the bed toward his wife.

_**"I, I hope to God that I never have, oh to testify**_

_**Cause if I do, everyone is gonna **_

_**They're gonna cry**_

_**They gonna say 'GUILTY'**_

_**Old Finn is guilty of lovin' you**_

_**Of lovin' a sweet girl like you"**_

Finn settled in between Rachel's legs as she willingly opened them wide for him. He cupped her cheeks with his large hands and captured her lips with an open mouth kiss, sucking on her top lip, then her bottom lip, ending with pushing his tongue deep into her mouth to capture hers. They alternated between caressing each other's tongue as Rachel finally pulled back, gasping from the passion of the long kiss. Finn then pressed his lips against the hollow space below her ear, being careful not to leave a mark that she would have to cover up tomorrow.

"_**I'll stand of top of Mount Everest**_

_**And proudly tell the world that I love ya**_

_**Oh yes I will**_

_**Because I just can't, I can't help myself**_

_**I'm a victim of circumstance" **_

"_**And just one, oh one touch of your hand**_

_**I don't know how it happened**_

_**But just look at me**_

_**I find myself chillin' on the witness stand**_

_**And I'm shouting out all over all over the land"**_

He slowly lowered himself down as he cupped one of her soft breast in his hand while he pulled the nipple of the other into his mouth, sucking on it as he felt it firming up against his tongue. Rachel starting moaning as she softly called out his name. He switched and gathered the other nipple between his teeth as he rolled the nipple of the other breast between his fingers as Rachel continued moaning and was now grinding her hips against him. Finn smiled up at her saying, "Baby, I 'm gonna make you feel so good."

"_**I said I'm guilty but what can I do**_

_**I want to hold ya**_

_**I wanna squeeze ya tight**_

_**But what my mind said**_

_**I'm guilty of lovin' you, you, you"**_

As the song continued in the background, Finn then kissed between her breast, moving slowly down, planting a light kiss to her stomach, finally landing where he planned on concentrating his ministrations. Rachel arched her back in ecstasy as Finn licked her along her lips, starting at her opening all the way up to her clit, where he planted his lips as he softly sucked on the bundle. He then pushed two fingers between her folds as he placed his other hand on her stomach to keep her from moving around too much. He then begin twisting the two fingers as he stroked in and out of her at a regular rhythm.

"Oh my God,Finn!" Yelled Rachel through gritting teeth as Finn worked his magic between her legs bringing her to a slow but strong orgasm. As Rachel continued writhing about, grinding herself against Finn's hand and mouth, he slowly removed his fingers and placed a final kiss to the inside of her thighs.

"Hmm, baby," he said, "you taste so good." Just as Rachel was about to beg him for more, she found herself being flipped over onto her stomach. He then grabbed her around her waist, pulling her up on her hands and knees. He then stroked himself a few times and then pushed into Rachel from behind. "Damn Rachel! You are so tight and hot, baby," Finn said as he picked up his stroke, pounding deeply into his wife.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked, wanting to make sure that he wasn't hurting her from his deep thrusts. He was, afterall, huge and didn't want his pleasure to cause her any pain.

Rachel was in so much ecstasy she could only get out a "uh hum" as she felt another orgasm building. Her legs were shaky from her last orgasm so she could only let Finn support her weight as she felt herself exploding around him. "Oh Finn! Oh, oh shit!" she yelled as her climax shook her entire body.

Finn was so close to cumming himself as he felt Rachel's walls contracting around him. But he wasn't ready to end this, not quite. He pulled out of Rachel and the lose of contact made him cry out. But he wanted to see his wife's face as they came together. He gently laid Rachel on her back as he climbed back between her trembling legs.

Rachel opened her drooping eyes to meet his stare. He ran his fingers through her hair, brushing the few damp strands that clung to her face. "I love you, Rachel. So, so much," he said as he slowly pushed into her again.

He lifted himself up on his trembling elbows to keep his weight off of her and began stroking in and out of her, each stroke plunging him deeper and deeper into her, aiming for that special spot he knew Rachel had and drove her crazy every time he hit it. "Cum with me, Rachel," Finn said, looking directly into her eyes. Finn next lifted one of her legs and wrapped it around his waist as he felt himself go deeper, hitting her sweet spot over and over.

Rachel tried to focus on her husband's eyes but her own eyes kept drifting closed. She knew she was right there just as her third orgasm hit her suddenly. "Oh, Finn! I love you, too. Aghhh!" Rachel screamed out as she finally let go.

As Rachel's walls grabbed at him, he yelled out her name as he exploded inside of her. He stroke within her few more time as they both rode out the remaining pleasure of their mutual orgasms. He then pulled out of her, collapsing onto his side as Rachel snuggled up into him.

They lay there, listening to the music coming from the speakers as their heart rates and breathing slowly came down to normal. Rachel was exhausted from their wedding night lovemaking and just wanted to bask in the feeling of all of the pleasure her husband had brought her.

She used the last little strength she had left and rolled over into Finn's side, stroking his moist stomach. "Finn?" she asked. Looking up, she could see that he was slowly drifting off to sleep.

"Huh?" he said sleepily, eyes closed.

"Thank you."

"Wha...for what, Rach?" he asked, looking down at her.

"For loving me," she said, sleep slowly taking over. "You have made me so happy, baby and I'm so glad you married me." She then threw her leg across his thighs, laying her head on his chest, slowly drifting into a deep slumber.

"My pleasure, baby. And I plan on keeping it that way," Finn slowly replied. He smiled to himself as he drifted off to sleep, his wife's soft snores in the background.

**A/N: Song playing during Finchel's lovemaking was **_**"I Stand Accused"**_** by the late great Isaac Hayes.**


	9. Chapter 9

Truth Is

**A/N: All Glee characters are the property of Fox/RIB. Any songs used are the property of the singers/songwriters.**

**This is the last chapter of this fanfiction. This and all of my stories are dedicated to Cory Monteith as a tribute to the fantastic role he played: Finn Hudson. We love and miss you, Cory and we will always keep you in our hearts. We will make sure that Finn/Finchel have that happy ending. **

**The song that Rachel and Finn dance to at their reception is "**_**One Heart, One Love" **_**by Phil Perry.**

Chapter 9

_(Truth is) I never got over you  
__(Truth is) And when it's all said and done  
__Guess I'm still in love with you  
__(Truth is) I never should have let you go  
__(Truth is) And when it's all said and done  
__Guess I'm still in love with you_

"Truth Is"_ sung by Fantasia_

Finn and Rachel headed up to the front door of her parents' home, Finn assisting Nana Berry up the steps as Rachel rang the doorbell. Rebecca Berry answered the door, opening it widely, smiling brightly to greet her invited guests. The smile quickly disappeared from her face as she look over at the stern face of Ruth Berry and the forced smile of one Finn Hudson. Something was up.

"Rachel, Finn. Glad you could make it," Rebecca said, looking at the couple. She then turned to Nana Berry. "Uh, Ruth? I didn't know you were coming."

"Yes, Rebecca. Rachel invited me to come along because we have some things to talk about with you and Daniel."

"Oh, alright. Come on in." Rebecca Berry turned and escorted the trio into the house. Leading them into the den, she offered them a seat. Sitting in a side chair, she continued. "So, dinner is almost ready. Daniel is taking the last of the meats off of the grill. Can I offer you something to drink while we wait?"

"Um," said Finn, clearing his throat. "No, thanks. I'll just wait for dinner. Rachel?" He asked turning towards her.

"No, I'm fine," said Rachel. Ruth Berry declined, also. "Mom, do you need any help setting the table?" offered Rachel.

"No, dear. I have everything waiting on Daniel." She looked up just as her husband stepped into the room.

"Hi, kids. Everything's...Uh, Mom? Didn't know you were coming." He then stepped over to his mother, bending down to kiss her on the cheek.

"Well, Rachel and Finn invited me to come along. We have some things to discuss with you and Rebecca and I'm here as a show of support."

"Oh really? Must be pretty serious if you came along," Daniel Berry chuckled. The three sitting on the couch nodded in agreement, none of them smiling. "Well," said Mr. Berry, the smile quickly leaving his face. "Let's go to the dining room, then. Dinner is ready." Daniel Berry helped his mother up and escorted their guests into the dining room.

As everyone was seated, they passed the food around and began eating, the tension filling the room. Rachel tried thinking of something to say to open the discussion but her father soon spoke up.

"So Rachel," started her Dad. "I heard you came by the office today. Sorry I wasn't there but I had a meeting with a client in Winston."

"Oh that's right. You are taking the Caterpillar case, aren't you?" asked Rachel.

"Yes. So, Greg tells me that you came in to finish your prep for that court case tomorrow."

"Yeah," Rachel looked at Finn at the mention of Greg's name. "I saw Greg, briefly, on my way into my office. We decided to work with a court-appointed mediator tomorrow instead. I don't have to be there until 2. I think the case might go in our favor."

"Good, good. Keep that up and you might make a beeline toward that partnership. Seems as if you and Greg are on the same pace to get there at the same time." Finn cleared his throat, seeing where Rachel's Dad was headed.

"Hmm," said Finn, savoring the taste of the chicken on his plate. "Mr. Berry, this chicken is delicious. So tender."

"Glad you like it, Finn. I got the recipe from my secretary. It's called Beer Butt Chicken." He laughed as Finn stared at him. "It's true. And that's exactly what you do. You open a can of beer, stick it up the chicken's butt and stand it on the grill. You cook it..."

"Daniel, I'm sure Finn gets the picture, Dear," said Rebecca Berry, taking a sip of her water. "So, Rachel. I'm sure you didn't come over here on a Wednesday night to discuss your Dad's grilling skills. Was there...Oh my God! What is that?" she asked, pointing at the shining wedding band on Rachel's left hand.

Rachel looked down at her left hand and then over at her husband. She clasped his hand and took a deep breath. "Finn and I are married."

"Married? Rachel! Tell us this is a joke!" yelled her Dad.

Rachel tightened her grip on Finn's hand. "No, Dad. Not a joke. Not a lie." She leaned forward, glaring at her parents. " .married."

"Rachel, how could you?! You married _him_?!"

"Yes, mother. Finn and I got married yesterday and don't refer to my husband as a '_him_'. That's why we came over here. To let you know that I'm his wife now and you can stop with your shenanigans and pathetic little attempts at matchmaking." Finn lifted his arm and put it around her shoulder, squeezing it slightly, letting her know that he was supporting her.

"Well, Rachel Danielle Berry, you didn't bother to discuss this with us. And such a big decision as this! I just can't believe you, young lady!" shouted her father.

"Daniel Berry, you shut up!" yelled Ruth Berry. "You two, just stop it and stop it now!"

"Mom, you stay..."

"No, I will not! I have sat back and watch you and Rebecca try to manipulate and dictate who this wonderful girl should date and spend her time with. The farther away she got from Finn, the happier you two became. It is so wrong how you completely ignored what your daughter wanted. Didn't you see how unhappy she was? Don't you even realize that these 2 young people have suffered over the past 5 years being apart? They have loved each other all along. They belong together. Why can't you open your biased eyes and see that?!"

"Well, we didn't have anything to do with Rachel and Finn going their separate ways," Rebecca said in their defense. "That was Rachel's choice to break up with Finn. We, however, completely agreed with her decision. They were much too young to be so serious and Rachel had school and her future career to think about."

"That may have been true, Mom," said Rachel. "But you didn't want to hear about the reasons why I let Finn go. You didn't care that being without him hurt me so much that I cried myself sick that summer. I needed you, Mom! Dad!" Rachel continued, crying now. "I knew that you were happy that Finn wasn't in my life any longer. The two of you, you were just _elated_. Thanking the heavens that Finn Hudson was out of my life!" She was sobbing now. "You kept trying to throw all of these other guys at me. Greg, Harrison, Lawrence, oh, the lists goes on and on, doesn't it Mom and Dad?! You never bothered to ask me how _I_ felt about it. About _any_ of it!" She shouted at them, her body trembling. "You just pretended that my heart wasn't broken. That it hadn't been ripped out of my chest and that the years were _not_ making the hurt and the longing for Finn go away! You just couldn't even see that I was slowly dying inside without Finn."

"Rachel, you did the best thing for both of you. We knew you wanted to be with him but we figured with time and school, we and your friends could help you move on."

"Yeah, but I didn't want to move on. I wanted Finn. I waited for Finn. I didn't want to be with anyone else. And," Rachel said, looking over at Finn with love in her eyes, "he didn't come back to me. Through it all, he came back to me." The tears were rolling down her face by now.

"But, how could you jump up and _marry_ him? Hell, he's only been back in town, what, a month? You have only been on a date with him once, twice?" asked Daniel Berry.

Finn tightened his grip on Rachel as he felt her shaking with emotion. "See, that's what I'm talking about! It's not like I just met him, Dad, and you know it! I _love_ him. We have loved each other for 10 years, Mom and Dad. 10 years! Since we saw each other last Friday, we have been inseparable. We love each other and that is not going to ever change. I tried to tell you that, both of you, the other day at the cookout."

"Daniel, Rebecca. Both of you, shut the hell up! Now! That's enough!" shouted Ruth Berry. "I've heard all I can take. Don't you see what you are doing? You are driving your own daughter away! Your only child! She felt that she couldn't come to either of you and talk about her pain, her longing for this wonderful, kind man she has married. You can't choose who your daughter loves, can't you see that? Over the last 5 years, your daughter had to come to me, pouring out her heart about Finn." She then turned her focus onto her son. "Daniel. You were not raised this way. Your father and I raised you to make your own decisions. Good or bad, we supported you. We knew you may make mistakes along the way, but this only made you a stronger person. We _never_ dictated who you should be with, what you should do with your life? Hell, if we had, do you think you would be married to _her_ now? We didn't think Rebecca was a good choice for you but we didn't say anything. All we knew was that you loved her and wanted to be with her for the rest of your life. So we supported that because we knew that she is what made you happy and it was your decision to make. Why can't you do the same for your own daughter?"

Daniel Berry looked over at his daughter. "Rachel, is all of this true?" Rachel could only nod. "It hurts to know that you felt that you couldn't even invite us to your wedding, Rachel. I thought we _were_ being supportive. We tried to help you deal with your breakup with Finn. We paid for your college of choice. I welcomed you to my firm along with the other new attorneys. I thought you could always come and talk to us. I just don't know what to say about this decision of yours, though."

"Well, I do." said Rebecca Berry, standing. "I can't believe that you would just up and marry a guy who you just started seeing again. I wanted you to experience more of the world, Rachel, before you upped and...and got tied down with one boy."

"Okay, okay. That's enough!" interrupted Finn. Rachel could see in his eyes and his jutting jaw that he was beyond hurt and angry. "Mr. And Mrs. Berry, I just can't believe you. How can you not see what you are doing to your daughter? How much you are hurting her?"

"Listen, young man, this is between our daughter and us," said Daniel Berry, raising his voice. "This has nothing to do..."

"It has _everything_ to do with me. That's my _wife_ you are yelling at and treating her like she is 16 years old. I have held my tongue as long as I'm going to. Do you not realize what a wonderful, kind, loving woman you have raised? We love each other. We are married. And nothing you are saying and nothing you can do will change that. I am not going to sit here any longer and let you try and belittle what we have. I am not the monster you picture me to be with your warped standards of what a capable man is for your daughter. But now, this woman that I love with all that I have, is my wife now."

He reached for Rachel's hand, helping her out of her chair. "I sure hope like hell you come to your senses soon before you lose her completely." He then gathered his crying wife into his arms and walked her to the door.

"Well, Rebecca," said Ruth. "I hope you are happy with yourself. Ruth then followed the couple to the door. "We will see our way out."

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

Rachel guided her BMW M6 convertible down the highway headed home after a long day at work. She smiled, squinting through her sunglasses for her exit number as she thought about Finn fitting his huge 6'4 body into her little sports car. He refused to ride in it because he really didn't have any leg room and he had called it her 'player ride'.

Turning onto the street to their apartment, she soaked in the last of the sunrays she would have today. Finn had called her earlier as he left work and told her he would start dinner and then they could watch a movie on Netflix. She had settled her client's case, much of the negotiations were in their favor. After having her assistant fax the final papers to her clients and getting her next case lined up, she had finally headed home to her new husband.

She thought about the conversations they had with her parents the night before. It made her sad to think about it but they we married and happy and her parents would just have to get used to it. They had gone to them with their news and now it was their time to make the next step toward them.

Getting off the elevator, she walked the short distance to the door, opening it to the wonderful smell of whatever her husband was preparing. "Hmm, something smells wonderful," she said, walking into the kitchen as Finn was stirring something on the stove top. She grabbed him around the waist from behind and snuggled her face into his broad back. "What are you preparing, honey?"

"Oh, my ol' standby. Spaghetti with my own special meat sauce. I've already made the cucumber and tomato salad." He then turned around, wrapping her in his arms. "And, I stopped and got us slices of pink lemonade cake from Maxi B's."

"Ahh!," Rachel exclaimed, pulling him down for a kiss. "Maxi B's is the best." Rachel pulled back, clapping her hands like she always does when she is excited. "I'm going to go and put on something comfortable and I'll come and help you finish up." She gave her husband a quick peck on the lips and ran into their bedroom to change.

_**Later that evening...**_

As they settled in on the couch to watch their movie after dinner, their doorbell rang. "Who in the heck could that be?" asked Finn. "It's after 7 and we've got work tomorrow. Never mind I kinda wanted to go to bed early," he said winking at his wife. The doorbell rang again and Finn groaned, getting up to answer it.

He opened the door to come face-to-face with his new in-laws. "What...what are you doing here?" asked Finn, shocked to see them standing in their hallway.

"Uh, Finn," answered Mr. Berry. "May we come in?"

Finn felt Rachel come up beside him, placing his arm around her protectively. "Not if you are here to upset my wife."

"Please, Finn," continued Mr. Berry. "It's not like that. We just need to talk to you, that's all." Finn opened the door further, allowing the two to enter. They walked into the living room, Finn offering the plush couch to the Berrys and he and Rachel sitting on the loveseat, with Rachel sitting on Finn's lap.

"Would you care for anything to drink?" asked Finn, politely.

"Yes, yes please. Water would be fine," answered Rachel's Mom.

"Water okay for you also, Mr. Berry?" asked Finn with Daniel Berry nodding in agreement. After Finn handed them their glasses of water, he sat back on the loveseat, pulling Rachel back into his lap.

"Well," said Mr. Berry. "This is a very nice place you have, Finn."

"Thank you. Rachel is just starting to decorate it and adding her touch. But, with all due respect, is there a reason why you are here?" Finn asked, defensively.

"Well," said Mrs. Berry, finally speaking up. "We were up most of the night thinking about what you, Rachel and Ruth said to us yesterday." Rachel started fidgeting around in Finn's lap, nervously. "And, we just...we want to, first of all, apologize to you two."

Finn sat up, clearing his throat as Rachel slid off his lap, surprised. "What?" They both said in unison as Rachel sat beside Finn, cuddling up to him for support, preparing herself for what her parents were about to say.

"Yes," said Mr. Berry. "We are sorry for judging Finn so harshly. Rachel," he continued, looking his daughter directly in her eyes, "I'm sorry, baby girl. Rebecca and I have made so many mistakes over these past years. We have used poor judgment. But you must understand we were just trying to give you the best. We wanted to make sure you had the best in life. We only wanted you to be happy and we, unfortunately, thought that we knew best what would make you happy. We were so, so wrong. Wrong about all of it."

"Dad, I know you and Mom have always tried to give me the best. But there is no excuse for trying to run my life. You have hurt me, and Finn through your thoughtlessness and your prejudice against him. What made you think that you knew what was best for me? Why couldn't you see that Finn was the only man that could make me happy?" She had tears flowing down her face, now. So did her parents.

Finn wrapped his arms around her and whispered to her, "Are you okay with this, babe?" She only nodded.

"Rachel," said her Mom. "Those are the mistakes we are talking about. You have grown up to be such a beautiful and wonderful woman. We couldn't be prouder of you, honey. We are so sorry we have looked the other way all those years that you were hurting, needing this man. It hurts us, too, to know that you couldn't come to us with your pain and heartache. Ruth made us realize what we have done." She then turned to Finn. "Finn, please accept our apologizes for being so cruel, so short-sighted and ignoring the fact that you are the only man for our daughter. You are a great person. We can see how much you love and adore our daughter, just like we do. We now realize she has made such a great decision to become your wife." She smiled at her new son-in-law.

"And," continued her father, "to show you how much we welcome you into this family, I would like to give the two of you this starter check." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a check and laid it on the table in front of them.

Rachel reached over and picked up the check. "$100,000! Dad? Mom?"

Finn took the check from Rachel and smiled at her parents. "Mr. Berry, that's kind of you. But we can't accept this." He placed the check back on the table, pushing it towards the older man.

"Finn, why not? Consider it a wedding present. Believe me, it's not just a...a hand out."

Finn smiled, shaking his head. "No, no. I don't think such a thing. It's just that..." he turned towards his wife. "I am quite capable of taking care of Rachel. I just can't, in good faith, take that money. You see, I haven't even told Rachel yet." He then looked into her eyes. "Babe, I was going to tell you soon but since your parents are trying to give us money, I guess this is the perfect time."

"What is it, Finn?' asked Rachel, looking up at him.

"Well, when Kurt and I were 10 years old, our grandfather, you remember me talking about Paw Paw Hudson?" Rachel nodded. "Well, he was one of the original investors in the supermarket chain that started in Salisbury. He had received royalty checks for decades from that investment. Anyway, when he died, he left everything to me and Kurt to split, right down the middle."

"What?" asked Rachel and the Berrys at the same time.

"Yep. He left it as a trust fund that we couldn't touch until we reached the age of 25. I turned 25 last May but I didn't touch any of it, except for helping Kurt to start his business in LA in June. He won't get his money until next November and the money I loaned him goes right back into my account. Well, _our_ account, now."

"Wow, Finn. That is quite a surprise," said Rachel, shocked. "You didn't even touch it to start your club?"

"Nope. I used my savings from the previous years that I worked on the cruise ships. I met with my accountant this morning, by the way, and Rachel, Mr. And Mrs. Berry, she said that if the club continues to bring in the kind of revenue it did last month, we should be okay, Rach." He turned and kissed her on the temple, squeezing her close to him.

"Well, Finn," said Mr. Berry. "This is good to hear. Now, I know what Rachel's salary is, and if she makes partner in a few years, she will be raking it in. Would it bother you to have your wife making more than you?"

"That's not a problem, sir. I know what Rachel makes and my accountant averaged out my salary for me for the coming year. Even with her making partner, I would still remain the breadwinner around here. But, none of that matters to either of us, right babe?"

"No, no, no." said Rachel. "I don't care if Finn made minimum wage as long as he is doing something that he loves."

"And we can't agree more," said Mrs. Berry. "So, not only did I gain a very handsome son-in-law but he can take care of my baby quite comfortably. Not everyday someone can turn down $100,000 without even blinking an eye!" They all laughed.

Rachel then stood up and hugged her parents. "Thank you," she said to them. "I know this was hard for you but I can see the changes in your attitudes. This means so much to me and Finn to finally have you on our side." Rachel then walked over and sat in her husband's lap again, giggling in his ear.

"Well," said her Mom. "The last thing we want to talk about is...we want to give you two a reception. Nothing huge and fancy but a nice reception with your family and friends. What do you say?"

"Oh, Mom. That would be perfect. But..." Rachel tapered off, looking at Finn.

"What is it, dear?" asked her Mom.

"Well, Finn's brother, Kurt, he has been working on the reception for us. He is leaving Sunday to go back to LA and wanted to have it for us Saturday evening."

"But," said Finn, "I'm sure he would love to have your help, Mrs. Berry."

"Finn, call me Rebecca, please," she corrected him, flipping her eye lashes at him. Rachel sat up, noticing that her Mom was flirting with her husband.

"Mom, stop hitting on Finn." Rachel warned.

"Rachel! I never said Finn wasn't devastatingly handsome, did I?" Rebecca laughed.

"Anyway," said Finn, blushing, "I'll give you Kurt's number and you can call him and you, along with my Mom, can work on the reception together. I'll give him word up and just let us know if we can do anything to help. Okay?"

"That would be great," Rebecca Berry said, clapping her hands together and standing up. "I am so glad we came by and got all of this cleared up."

"Now maybe you can shut up about grand babies and..." started Daniel Berry.

"Mom, Dad! I am not pregnant. Please!" Rachel said, herself now blushing.

"No, that's not what she has been bugging me about. She wants grand babies now. She was going on and on about what pretty babies the two of you would make and..."

"Daddy!" Rachel exclaimed, grabbing Finn's hand. "Time for you two to go. We both have work tomorrow. Goodnight." All of them had a laugh at her parents jovial statements.

Finn and Rachel escorted them to the door. After thanking her parents again and saying their goodbyes, Finn and Rachel headed for their bedroom for the night, smiling at each other. They were so happy that her parents had finally came around and excepted their relationship.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"Hurry up, Finn!" yelled Rachel from the bedroom. Finn had to make an emergency run to the toilet at the last minute and she was ready to head out for their reception. "I told you to stay away from those 2 day old burritos, Finn. That is not the proper breakfast...Ahhh, Finn!" screamed Rachel, laughing as Finn tackled her, pushing her onto the bed.

"Finn, you'll mess up...hmmmm" she was stopped as her husband attached his lips to her favorite spot below her ear. "Mmm, that feels so good but we're going to be late, honey."

"I don't care," Finn replied, kissing the tops of her breast that her revealing low-cut top gave him easy access to. "I want to make out with my wife. What are they going to do, start without us?" he continued, running his free hand down the back of her capri pants' waistband, cupping her butt.

Rachel shook her head, bringing her out of her Finn fog. "No, no baby." she said, pushing him off of her. Standing up, she reached back, pulling him off the bed. "It's time for the car to arrive that they sent for us." Rachel looked in the mirror of her dresser, fluffing her hair and straightening out the wrinkles in her top.

"Fuck! Why is it we never have playtime anymore," Finn said, pouting.

Rachel stood on her tiptoes, kissing his bottom lip but not allowing him to deepen it. "Let's go. Just got a text. The car is downstairs." She grabbed his hand, leading him down to the car.

"Remind me to check what I'm paying those clowns at the club. How in the hell can they afford to rent a limo for us for 4 hours?"

"Finn, be nice. They all pitched in. Be grateful that they care so much about you to do this for us."

"Well," said Finn as the limo headed down the highway. "I do appreciate it, though. They wanted us to enjoy ourselves tonight, drink and not worry about having to drive back." He gathered Rachel in his arms. "But, don't you get too drunk, young lady. I'm gonna finish what we started back at the apartment." He then bent down and kissed her deeply, finishing by planting a soft kiss to her forehead.

"Do you know where we are going?" asked Finn, as he wrapped Rachel into his arms.

"Not a clue, babe," answered Rachel, burying her face into his chest, wrapping her arm around his waist.

"Well, we just left the city limits, so this is getting interesting. No telling with Kurt, Mom and your Mom."

Rachel looked up at the face of her handsome husband as he smiled at her. She was so filled with love and happiness at the moment she couldn't resist pulling his head down to kiss him deeply, letting her tongue slowly pry its way between his lips and plunging it deeply into his mouth. Finn let out a moan as he fought his desire to cup her breast. He placed his hands on each side of her face, deepening the kiss, feeling himself getting hard. Rachel was rubbing her hand up his thigh as she started brushing her fingers along his now firm erection.

"Rachel...baby we gotta...come on, baby," Finn said in between breaths. "Baby, we gotta stop or I'll have to tell this guy to take us back home."

Rachel reluctantly pulled away from him, straightening her top and taking deep breaths as they pulled up to the QueensLanding dock. Through his fog, Finn rearranged his pants, trying to cover up his erection. He heard the driver say that they had arrived at their destination as he came around to open the door for them.

The couple walked up the pier where a guy who said his name was Mark helped them to board a small boat that took them across the lake toward a huge yacht. It was a triple decker party yacht called the "_Festivals On The Lake_", painted on the side of the boat.

Climbing on board, the couple could hear the music blasting on the ship. "Oh my goodness," exclaimed Rachel. "Kurt and our mothers have outdid themselves." She grabbed Finn's hand. "Let's party, Finn!"

They entered the main deck which had a stage with a DJ mixing dance beats. The dance floor was crowded with many people they both knew and some they didn't know. Puck came up to them, smiling. "Bout time, lovebirds. Everyone is waiting for you two!"

Rachel started shaking her hips to the beat. Reaching for Finn's hand, she stepped towards the dance floor, causing Puck to leer at them. "Uh huh! That's why you two are late," he said, pointing down at Finn's crouch. "From the looks of my boy's pants, you started things on the way over here. Shame! Shame!" Puck finished, laughing.

Rachel slapped his shoulder. "You are so gross! Why are you even looking at Finn's business, anyway? Huh?" Puck frowned at her. "Besides," she continued, pulling Finn into her, "you are just jealous because my Finn is getting it _good_ and _regular_ and when I say_ good_, I mean the best. Come on Finn." She then pulled him towards the dance floor, leaving Puck with his mouth hanging open.

"Can I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen," said Kurt from the DJ stage. Carole Hudson and Rebecca Berry stood on each side of him, smiling. "Thanks to everyone for coming out tonight to help my brother and new sister-in-law celebrate their nuptials. My Mom," Kurt continued pointing to Carole, "and Mrs. Berry," Kurt said, smiling at each lady, "have rented this ship for 4 hours. We want you to dance here on the main deck, play games on the upper deck and just relax and enjoy the night air on the very top deck. We have open bars set up on all levels and young people, you will be carded so don't _even_ try it. Rachel and Finn, can you come up here, please."

Rachel and Finn stepped up onto the stage, standing beside Kurt. "Ladies and Gentleman, I want to introduce you to my brother, Finn Hudson, the groom and his lovely wife, Rachel Berry Hudson." There was applause from the group and a few wolf whistles.

"Thank goodness," yelled Puck from the crowd. Kurt cleared his throat.

"Anyway, Rachel and Finn. We hope you have fun tonight and we just want you to know that we love and support you and wish you two all the joy and happiness in the world."

Rachel then hugged Kurt, Carole and her Mom and Finn followed her lead.

With tears in her eyes, Rachel stepped to the mike. "Oh, my. I see so many familiar faces. Some I haven't seen in ages. Santana? Toni, and there's my cousin, Patti. Hi, Patti," she said, waving to the ladies. She then reached for Finn, needing his support to contain her emotions. "Finn and I are so happy you came to help us celebrate this new phase in our lives. Finn and I have waited a long time for this and we want all of you to share in our joy. So, please, we want you to drink, dance and just have fun." She then turned and hugged Finn, burying her face in his shirt as the tears started.

She then felt her Mom and Kurt pull her gently off of the stage, surprising her. She looked up as her husband smiled down on her. _Finn was up to something_. Kurt, Carole and her mother escorted her to a table sitting off to the right of the stage.

Finn then stood alone on the stage as he held the mike in his hand. "Rachel," he started, looking directly at her shocked face. "Yes, Kurt, Mom and Mrs. Berry knew about this and helped me arrange it." he said, grinning at her. "Anyway, baby, I love you. I have loved you since I laid eyes on you in that English class. Time, distance, interference...none of it has stopped the love I have for you. It has only made it stronger, babe. You are my life. You are my all. You are my everything. You stole my heart when I was 16 years old and now that I'm 25 years old, it's still yours, baby. I will love you completely, my Rachel, until we are no more." He stopped and blew her a kiss. "Now, as the DJ plays this song, this is for us, Babe. One heart, one love, always."

He then handed the mike back to the DJ and a song started playing. Finn stepped off the stage and went to Rachel, helping her over to the center of the dance floor as the lights lowered. They held each other as the song played:

"_I'm putting my heart in your hands__**  
**____**What better way to show my faith in you  
**____**Giving you a lock and the key  
**____**In other words, babe, giving all of me  
**____**Cuz I've searched this world around and round  
**____**For someone like you  
**____**And I thank my stars I've finally found  
**____**A woman like you**__**"**__****_

_** '**__**One**__** heart, **__one love__**  
**____**I'm giving my all for you  
**____**One heart, one love  
**____**For the rest of my days  
**____**I promise that **__**I**__**'ll be true**__**"**__****_

_** "**__**You showed your trust in my heart  
**____**You opened up and gave your love to me  
**____**And I'll be yours for all time  
**____**24/7, both day and night**__**"**__****_

_** "**__**I've searched this world from mountain high  
**____**to river deep  
**____**Now that your here  
**____**I'm yours for life  
**____**I'm yours to keep, I'm in too deep**__**"**__****_

_** "**__**One heart, one love  
**____**I'm giving my all for you, sweet baby  
**____**One heart, one love  
**____**For the rest of my days  
**____**I promise that I'll be true**__**"**__****_

_** "**__**One love for the rest of my life  
**____**That's all I want, that's all I need  
**____**One heart that beats for all time  
**____**For you, for you**__**"**__****_

_** "**__**I don't need money, fortune, or fame  
**____**But I need, my love, is for you to share my name**__**"**__****_

_** "**__**One heart, one love  
**____**I'm giving my all for you, baby  
**____**One heart, one love  
**____**For the rest of my days  
**____**I promise that I'll be true**__**"**_

As the song ended, Finn kissed her deeply, wiping the tears that were falling from her eyes, as she did the same for him. They then smiled at each other as the crowd clapped loudly for the newlyweds. Kurt then came up to them and yelled out, "Okay, shows over. Let's party!" as the dance music started up again.

Rachel and Finn went around and greeted most of the guests as they sipped on their glasses of champagne. Finn danced with his Mom as Rachel danced with her Dad. Then they switched and Finn danced with Mrs. Berry and Rachel danced with Kurt. Rachel looked over and saw Puck swing dancing with Nana Berry. Ruth Berry giggled like a school girl as Puck laid the charm on pretty thick.

Then, as the Cupid Shuffle started up, Rachel pulled Finn from the crowded dance floor. "Come on, Finn. I want to see what else is on this ship." She then winked at him and he smiled back at her, knowing what his wife was up to.

He followed her up to the next deck as they found a room that looked like an office with a small couch in the corner. Rachel pulled Finn over to it as she started unbuckling his pants. "Babe, what are you doing? Somebody could come in and catch us," Finn said, hesitantly lying back on the couch.

"Door's locked," Rachel said as she finished undoing his pants, pulling them down, along with his boxers. She kneeled down between his legs, gathering his huge manhood in her hand. She then smiled up at him, "Besides, we're married, and I'm doing my husband at _our_ reception and I don't care."

Finn then laughed softly at his amazing wife. "Now, Finn, let me take care of that little problem you've been carrying around since we got out of that limo." Rachel then threw her hair back behind her shoulders as she lowered her mouth onto the head of his now firm erection. She then pulled back slightly to lick across the tip as this brought moans from Finn.

"Rachel, baby I'm not gonna last long," he said through gritted teeth.

Rachel lifted her head briefly to say, "That's the point, Finn. I want to make you come hard and quick. So relax, babe." She then captured his member into her mouth again, sucking and licking all the way down his shaft until the head of it touch the back of her throat. She then reversed her moves, going from the base back up to the head. She then started sliding it in and out of her mouth as she brought it deeper and deeper into her mouth.

"Oh, shit, Rach! Oh my god that feels good!" He grabbed her hair, pulling it back behind her head as he held the back of her bobbing head. Finn could feel his orgasm building as he stroked her mouth, in and out.

"Baby, I'm getting ready to cum...oh shit!" he tried to warn her as Rachel picked up her pace. Finn then felt himself explode into the back of her throat as Rachel continued sucking and swallowing until she felt him softening slightly in her mouth. She then released him from her mouth as she wiped her hand across her lips with a smile on her face.

"I love how I can do that for you, babe." She then stood up, found a tissue handing it to Finn to clean himself. "Now, I'm going to find a bathroom to quickly clean myself up and we'll head back down to the party."

_**Few minutes later...**_

"It's about time!" said Kurt, meeting the two of them at the door of the lower deck. "Don't even try to explain where you disappeared to. With that stupid grin on Finn's face, I know exactly what you two horny freaks have been up to. Come on, I have been looking for you for over 20 minutes. I can't believe you. You have guests here," Kurt continued, leading them towards the bar. Time for your two should be caught up by now. Screwing non stop for a week," he continued mumbling. After reaching the bar, he handed them each a glass so the crowd could toast them. Rachel and Finn lowered their head as they noticed quite a few knowing looks in the crowd.

After awhile, Finn and Rachel both were pretty toasted from many champagne toasts. Puck kept giving Finn beers and Rachel was now sipping on her 5th cosmos. Finn had gone off with Puck to talk with some of his staff and Rachel was now dancing with Santana to "_**I Got A Feeling**_" by the Black Eyed Peas. "Come on, Santana. This is the song we danced to at homecoming our junior year."

"Yeah, I remember, R2," smirked Santana. "You and C3PO disappeared for quite some time. Sure you got the energy to dance, Rachel?" Rachel frowned at the old nicknames Santana had called them in high school.

"Santana! Stop calling me that!" as Santana laughed.

"Oh, chill, Mrs. Hudson. I'm happy for you and Big Doofus. If it hadn't been for Finn, I would never have met that clown of a best friend of his."

"I'm not dancing with you anymore, Tana," Rachel said, slurring her speech. "I thought you were my friend," said Rachel, pouting.

"Okay, okay, Rachel. I'll stop. I've always liked you and Bigfoot together." Rachel started walking away. "I'm sorry Rachel. Last one, I promise. I'm happy for both of you. Now, let's finish our dance." They both laughed as they continued dancing.

Finn stood there, watching Rachel laughing and dancing with Santana and his heart was just full, causing his eyes to mist up. "Oh, come on Hudson, don't start that crying shit, man!" yelled Puck. "You've got that little shrimp locked in now so why the tears?"

"I'm just happy that we found each other again, man. I love her and I thought I would never be with her again, you know?" Finn said, feeling quite tipsy.

"Believe me, I know. I suffered through your crying, depressed ass for a long time. But, she's yours now, for good."

"I know. And," said Finn, turning to Puck. "I just want to say thanks for putting up with me and helping me through those crazy years without her. You are a true friend, Puck, and I'll always look out for you." Finn slapped him on the back.

"I know, man," said Puck, looking down. "I wouldn't have followed your big ass all the way here if I didn't trust you. You're the best and I'll always have your back, man."

"Thanks," Finn said, slapping him on the back. "And, I see you and Santana have hit it off pretty good."

"Yeah, yeah," Puck said, humbly, looking over at her and Rachel dancing. Then he noticed Rachel looking over at Finn, licking her lips. "Oh, good lord. Go, go," he told Finn.

"What?" asked Finn, never taking his eyes off his wife.

"Stop eye-fucking your wife and go over there. Leave and take care of your business."

"Don't have to tell me twice," said Finn as he headed toward Rachel, ready to take her home so they could finish what she started in that captain's office.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

The next night Finn and Rachel decided to exchange wedding gifts since this was the first night they had to relax together completely. So now the two of them sat together in bed with their gifts in front of them. "You go first, Finn. It's not anything big or fancy but I hope you like it."

"Babe, please," pleaded Finn. "I don't care what it is. It could be a pair of pink argyle socks but I wouldn't care because it's from you." He bent over and kissed her lightly on the lips. He then carefully unwrapped the layers of paper that Rachel had so diligently applied to the oblong box. Reaching in through the crisp tissue packing, he pulled out a tall green bottle. "Oh, Rach. You shouldn't have. My very own...uh, empty wine bottle." He laughed hugging the bottle to him.

"Finn, silly. There's something else in the box." He looked down and noticed a white scroll wrapped in a purple ribbon. Pulling it out he looked at Rachel.

"Open it, baby." He then pulled the ribbon off and unrolled the scroll.

"Oh, honey," Finn said, his mouth hanging open. He began reading the note: "**10 Things I love About Finn Christopher Hudson."**

_**I love his amber eyes**__. They let you know immediately his emotions about any situation. They never lie. I love how they shine when he sees me, letting me know that he loves me without saying a word. I love how they sparkle when he is excited._

_**I love his light brown, thick hair.**__ I love how, no matter how long he spends in the mirror combing and styling it, it always looks like he just climbed out of bed and that is oh so sexy to me. I love how he runs his fingers through it when he is confused, upset or shy. I love how I can grab onto it when I kiss him, love him or just want to touch a part of him._

_**I love his smile.**__ He has 3 kinds of smiles. He has that smirk of his, when he is being mischievous, or sneaky or just being arrogant. Then there is his full, cheek to cheek smile when he sees or hears something funny, when he is overjoyed or just so completely happy. And then there's my smile. Only reserved for me. One side of his mouth quirks up slightly and I can see those gorgeous dimples of his. This smile makes his amber eyes sparkle and they are so full of love and desire for me. This smile is my favorite._

_**I love how so very tall he is.**__ Now that's funny, coming from his 5'2" wife. But being tall makes him to cuddly and I feel so safe and warm being with him. Which leads to the next thing..._

_**I love how big his hands are.**__ When he cupped my face between his huge hands, we only see each other. I love how his big hands caresses every inch of my body, bringing me to the heights of emotions. And just the feel of his hand in mine makes me feel that strong connection we have always had._

_**I love his laugh.**__ When I hear that sound, it goes right to my heart knowing that my man is happy. And that's what I want for him. Joy and happiness for the rest of our lives._

_**I love his kiss.**__ From the quick pecks he gives me while we're talking to the deep, passionate kisses he gives me. All of them lets me know that he loves me, desires me, wants me. _

_**I love the way he just looks at me.**__ I catch him staring at me or just taking his time looking at me from head to toe. He makes me feel so beautiful, so wanted and so desired._

_**I love his heart.**__ He cares so much about others. He is so loyal, caring and giving. I just enjoy laying with him, with my head lying against his chest, listening to it beat. It is so reassuring, so comforting, so strong._

_**Last...I love how he loves me.**__ He loves me in spite of all my flaws. He loves me in spite of my crazy. He loves me in spite of my stubbornness.. He loves me in spite of my many mistakes. He loves me unconditionally, completely and forever._

_So, my dear sweet loving husband. I love you, cherish you, and adore you. Now and forever more. _

_Your wife, Rachel Berry Hudson._

_July 5, 2015. _

"Oh Rachel," Finn said, through his tears. They were falling down his face and he didn't try to stop them. "This is so beautiful. I just...I just don't know what to say, baby? How did you do all of this so quickly?"

"Well, one of my clerks is a calligrapher. She got the parchment paper and I wrote out what I wanted and then she fancied it up. Now," she said, rolling the paper back up and reapplying the ribbon, "now we put this into the bottle and set it on our dresser or where ever you want to put it. This is your 'Message In A Bottle'." She then turned back to him.

"I love you, Finn. You don't need to say anything." She reached over and wiped the tears from his face and kissed him deeply. "Now, what did you get me?" she asked, clapping her hands together.

"Well, it's no where near as nice as what you've done, believe me. But, here it is," he said, handing her a small square box. She opened it and pulled out a beautiful platinum bracelet. "Oh, Finn. It's beautiful. And," she continued, looking inside of it. "It's Michael Kors. On my, Finn. This is too much, baby."

"No, no it isn't, Rachel. Not for you. Kurt said women love this brand. And the platinum matches our rings. Look at the engraving, babe."

Rachel turned the bracelet over and read the quote: "_Il mo...moel... _ohI'm terrible at reading this, Finn. Please read it for me?"

"Of course," said Finn, taking the bracelet from Rachel. _"Il moil core el ill too per simper"_ flowed from his tongue as if Italian was his native language. "It means '_My Heart Is Yours Forever'_. Then I've got our wedding date," he turned the bracelet, pointing at the side engraved area, "here. _July 5, 2015_."

"Oh Finn, it's beautiful," she exclaimed, tears now flowing from her eyes. "Please put it on me. I'm never taking it off, along with the wedding ring, of course." After Finn clasped the bracelet closed Rachel reached up and brought his head down to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She then pushed him back on the bed, straddling him. "Now, my dear husband, you've got on too many clothes for what I want to do for you."

**A/N: Thanks to all for reading and reviewing. All that's left is the epilogue. Today has been very hard for most of us. Finishing this chapter was my way of remembering Cory and Finn. **


	10. Epilogue

Truth Is

**A/N: All Glee characters are the property of Fox/RIB. Any songs used are the property of the singers/songwriters. Thanks to everyone for reading, reviewing, following and/or making this story one of your favorites. I have enjoyed writing it and thanks again for coming along for the ride. As always, continuing honoring our beloved Cory Monteith and through him, Finn Hudson also.**

Epilogue

Rachel was upstairs in her and Finn's bedroom, looking around for any items she may have missed while packing. Searching through Finn's t-shirt drawer, Rachel pulled out an old tattered light blue shirt. Lifting it out, Rachel smiled. She didn't know why Finn insisted on hanging onto this old, torn and faded shirt. But, every weekend, he would pull it out to wear around the house. After checking it for new holes, she folded it and placed it in their suitcase.

"Mommy?" Rachel heard her 6 year old son call out to her, breaking her from her thoughts.

"Yes, Henry?"

"Can I take my skateboard over to Granddad's and Mimi's? They have that really cool driveway with a lot of stuff to skateboard over."

Rachel reached over and rubbed his hair, smiling. "Sure, but make sure you pack your helmet, young man. I don't want to be called back here because..." Her son had already ran out of the door. Smiling again, she shook her head, turning to zip her luggage, placing it by the door with the others.

Henry Daniel Hudson was the perfect mix of her and Finn. He had his father's height, hair and eyes. He had Rachel's nose, olive skin and lips. He had been born a month premature and he and Rachel were up many a night together while he was having trouble breathing with his tiny immature lungs. She and Finn had spent many nights anxiously watching the monitor he was attached to that alarmed when his oxygen level dropped too low. Then they had to place him on oxygen while they took turns napping.

He had to be given frequent small feedings the first weeks he was home, also because of his underdeveloped digestive system. Rachel had to breastfeed him every hour or so for awhile. And they just bonded, a bond that was still very strong. He loved and admired his Daddy but he was a Mama's Boy, according to their family and friends.

Rachel walked down the hall to their daughter's room. Taylor Carole Hudson was busy trying to pack every doll she owned into her lavender rolling duffel bag. "Taylor? What are you doing, baby?" Rachel laughed as she went over to sit on the side of her daughter's bed.

"Mommy, they won't fit. I wanna take Ari and Melissa and Mollie and...and I can't make them fit," she said, frustrated. She then turned and looked up at Rachel with her big amber eyes. "Can you help me, Mommy?"

Rachel chuckled. "Taylor, why don't you just pick 3 of your very favorites and then Mommy will help you pack them. Then we can put their clothes and accessories in there, too. Okay?"

"But Mommy, I can't choose," Taylor responded, stumping her foot. "I don't want to leave them all by they self here for a whole year! They'll miss me!"

Rachel reached down and picked her daughter up and pulled her onto her lap. "Taylor honey, first of all, Mommy and Daddy will only be gone for a week. And I'm sure the other dolls will be just fine while you are over Granddad and Mimi's house. Okay?"

"Okay," answered Taylor, looking down, "but which one do I take? Help me, Mommy," she pleaded. Rachel smiled as she randomly picked out 3 dolls and then helped her daughter finish packing her doll bag. She then walked over to her closet and finished packing her outfits for the week, finally zipping the bag up.

As they headed toward her small Land Rover hatchback, Rachel's phone rang. Helping the kids into the backseats, she answered. "Hello, Finn."

"_Rach, are you headed this way?"_

"Yeah, baby. Just loaded the kids up and pulling out of the garage now," she said and backed out of the driveway, closing the garage as she headed down the street.

"_Oh, caught you in time. I meant to pack my Tarheel t-shirt. Can you run back upstairs and..."_

"Already on it, honey. Got it. You finished with your meeting?" Rachel asked, turning onto highway toward Finn's club.

"_Just about. They are stretching their legs and hopefully, in a few minutes, will sign this damn contract so I can get out of here. I can't wait to get you alone, Mrs. Hudson."_

"I can't wait either. Well, gotta get off this phone. I see a lot of traffic ahead."

"_Okay, babe,"_ said Finn. _"Be careful and I'll see you in a few. Love you."_

"Love you, too. Bye."

_**Meanwhile, at the club...**_

"...listen. I've told you, Finn is happily married. He has been married to his high school sweetheart now for **8 years**. He doesn't see you that way. He hasn't seen any other woman that way for years and years. Only his _wife_. Only his _Rachel_. Get that through your thick skull, Linda."

"But Puck, he is extra nice to me. I've seen it. He looks at me with those light brown eyes and those dimples! I _know_ he is married but is he_ happily _married?"

"What have I told you, woman? He is _very_ happily married. He and his wife are sickening so in love," Puck continued, becoming frustrated with the conversation.

"But," objected his new bartender, "You should see how extra nice he is to me."

"Finn is nice to _all_ of his employees. That's just how he is. He's a nice man but it gets him in trouble sometime. Like now. Like you. And, I'm telling you. You don't want to cross that line. He is married to this tiny little brunette that will chew you up and spit your ass out! And if he or his wife picks up on just a hint that you got your eyes on him in that way, you will get fired, Linda."

"I've seen his wife's picture. He has it on his desk in his office. She's kinda cute, I guess, but that nose of hers..."

"Are you deaf? Or just stupid! Look, if you want to keep your job you will stay away from Finn Hudson. I don't know what it is about you women and Hudson. Even at his age, he still attracts the ladies like flies. But he is married to a woman he has loved since he was 16 years old. And believe me, you don't want to ruffle her feathers." Puck then looked the young woman directly in her eyes. " . nobody, I mean nobody comes between those two. Believe me, many have tried but he is very happy, very much in love with her. He has 2 kids with her. Finn doesn't see you that way, okay? Now chill."

"Does he like blondes? I noticed that a lot of the waitresses are blonde," totally ignoring Puck's warnings.

"Yeah, but _I_ hired you and _he_ will fire your ass if you even hint that you are after him. If his wife catches wind of this, she will have you fired. I've told you. She is a little firecracker and will go off on your stupid ass."

Pulling into the parking lot of the club, Rachel parked and then helped her kids out of the car. Taylor was being extra clingy so Rachel picked her up and carried her into the club.

"Look, Mommy," said Henry, pointing up to the club's sign. "That's Taylor's name. My Daddy named this place after her." Rachel laughed because he said that every time they visited the club.

"He sure did, Henry."

"Mommy, I want to see Daddy," whined Taylor. Rachel pulled her in closer to her. Just like Henry was closer to Rachel, Taylor was a complete Daddy's girl. She has had problems with separation anxiety ever since she was able to walk. She knew her parents would have to call them later just so Taylor could hear Finn's voice. Then she and Finn would have to call the kids tonight so that Finn could sing to Taylor at bedtime. Not just tonight but every night that they were away from her. It never failed.

Walking in to the club, Rachel noticed Puckerman standing behind the bar talking with a female bartender that Rachel hadn't seen before. She could hear the tail end of their conversation... "So, Linda. Don't even go there. I don't care what you may think of him, Finn Hudson is way off limits..."

Puck then looked up and saw Rachel coming through the door. "Hi, Rachel." said Puck, smiling at her. He then gave Linda a warning glance.

"Hi, Puckerman. Who's this?" Rachel asked, pointing at the new girl.

"This is Linda Clemmons. She is our new bartender since Thomas transferred to Raleigh. Linda, this is Rachel, Rachel Hudson. Finn's wife." Linda smiled at Rachel, shaking her offered hand.

"Nice to meet the lucky woman that got her hooks in Finn. He is so handsome," said Linda, smiling down at Rachel. "Rachel, am I correct?"

Rachel pulled her hand back and frowned at the bold woman. Puck just shook his head, knowing that Linda wouldn't be around very long. "Well," said Rachel, "I agree that my husband is very handsome. But Linda, am I correct?" Linda nodded, slowly. "Well _Linda_, I prefer to be called Mrs. Hudson by persons I'm not familiar with, if you don't mind." She then smiled briefly towards the young woman with her frown quickly returning.

"Anyway," Rachel continued, turning toward a nervous Puck. "Puckerman, I'm here to pick up Finn. After we drop the kids off, we are off to celebrate our 8th anniversary, wedding anniversary. So, Puckerman, he will be indisposed until next Monday." Rachel then fake-laughed towards Linda. "So, is he still in his meeting?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Puck, nervously. "Look, Linda. Go in the back and ask Fred to show you how to do the liquor inventory." He then watched her walk into the back, swinging her hips. Shaking his head, he turned to meet Rachel's cold gaze. "Uh, Finn shouldn't be much longer."

"Uncle Puck!" greeted Henry.

"Hello, my man," answered Puck to his godson. "How's it hanging, Hank?"

"Pretty low, pretty low." said Henry, climbing up onto one of the bar stool. "Can I get a stiff one?"

"Whatta it be, Hank? Scotch or gin?"

"Feeling like a gin, with 2 ice cubes, please." Puck laughed as he poured Henry a Sprite. Rachel crossed her arms, rolling her eyes at Puck.

"Puckerman, stop corrupting my son. I knew we should have picked someone else as his godfather. You better be glad you are married to Santana to taper down your madness."

"Oh Rachel, calm down. I know who has t'd you off. Don't worry, I'll take care of her," he whispered.

Rachel felt someone tugging on her shorts. Looking down, she saw her daughter looking up at her with sad eyes. "What is it, Taylor," Rachel asked, picking her daughter up and placing her on her hip.

"I want my Daddy. Where's my Daddy?"

"He is upstairs talking to some people. He'll be down in a minute, honey. You want Uncle Puck to give you something to drink?" Taylor shook her head 'no' and laid her head on her mother's shoulder. Just then, she heard Finn coming downstairs with two middle-aged gentlemen smiling back at him.

After he escorted them out he came over to his family and Puck. Kissing Rachel on the lips, he then kissed Taylor on the forehead before she reached up for him. He gathered her in his arms as she laid her head on his shoulder. "What's wrong, Tay Tay? You miss Daddy?"

"Yes," she said, placing her thumb in her mouth.

"Hey, Henry," said Finn, bending down to kiss his son on the forehead.

"Hi, Daddy. Uncle Puck gave me a shot of gin," exclaimed Henry. Puck rolled his eyes, sshing him.

"Puck..." said Finn. "What have I told you? That's why Rachel doesn't like for him to come around here, man. He's gonna go straight to his grandparents to tell them the exact same thing."

"Awe, I'll explain it. Anyway, did they sign?" Finn nodded. "Yes!" Puck declared. He then slapped hands with Rachel. Those two guys represented a huge architecture firm that signed to have their convention and meetings at Finn's club for the next 24 months.

Over the past 8 years, Finn had expanded Taylor's to two more clubs in Raleigh and Concord, near Charlotte, NC. He was now CEO making Puck COO of all the clubs. They had hired managers for all three clubs so that Finn and Puck could have more of a family life now that they were both married and had kids. They had closed the deal on a new club in Asheville, NC and construction was to start in September. All clubs were doing extremely well.

Rachel had made full partner at her Dad's firm two years ago, making her take fewer and fewer cases and basically becoming the lead attorney for their biggest cases. She had taken time off to have Henry and Taylor but was back at work full time.

After Finn gave Puck his final instructions, they headed to the downtown restaurant they were meeting the Berrys at. They would have lunch with them, hand the kids off to them to keep for the week and then head out for their annual honeymoon trip.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"So, baby," said Finn as he and Rachel headed toward their rented house on Manteo Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. "Ready for a week of loving and taking care of your husband's needs?"

Rachel laughed. "How is that any different from the last 8 years, Finn Hudson?"

He reached over and grabbed her hand, pulling it into his lap. "Baby, have I told you how much I love you lately? How much you have made my life so wonderful and exciting?"

"Hmmm," said Rachel, putting her finger under her chin, pretending to think about her answer, "not today, I don't think." They both laughed. Finn then looked over at his wife and felt an overwhelming need to kiss her, kiss her until he took her breath like she did his everytime he looked at her, even after all these years.

He pulled into the next rest area, parking the SUV. He then pulled Rachel over into his lap and kissed her passionately as they made out in the parking space. After a while, Rachel slid back into her seat, her head spinning from his kisses and touches. She pulled down her mirror to quickly brush her hair and then smiled over at Finn. He then winked at her, pulling back onto the highway.

Rachel leaned over to punch in the next playlist on her phone as a familiar song came through the speakers. Finn began singing as they headed toward the Outer Banks:

Finn:

_***"**__**When life leaves you high and dry  
I'll be at your door tonight if you need help, if you need help  
I'll shut down the city lights,  
I'll lie, cheat, I'll beg and bribe to make you well, to make you well**__**"**_

Rachel laughed as she took over the next verse:

"_**When enemies are at your door I'll carry you away from war  
If you need help, if you need help  
Your hope dangling by a string  
I'll share in your suffering to make you well, to make you well**__**"**_

"_**Give me reasons to believe that you would do the same for me**__**"**_

Then Finn joined her for the chorus:

"_**And I would do it for you, for you  
Baby I'm not moving on  
I'll love you long after you're gone  
For you, for you  
You will never sleep alone  
I'll love you long after you go  
And long after you're gone gone gone**__**"**_

Finn:

"_**When you fall like a statue  
I'm gon' be there to catch you  
Put you on your feet, you on your feet  
And if your well is empty  
Not a thing will prevent me  
Tell me what you need, what do you need**__**"**_

"_**I surrender honestly  
You've always done the same for me**__**"**_

Both:

"_**So I would do it for you, for you  
Baby I'm not moving on  
I'll love you long after you're gone  
For you, for you  
You would never sleep alone  
I'll love you long after you're gone  
And long after you're gone gone gone**__**"**_

Rachel:

"_**You're my back bone, you're my cornerstone  
You're my crutch when my legs stop moving  
You're my headstart, you're my rugged heart  
You're the pulse that I've always needed  
**_

Both:

"_**Like a drum baby don't stop beating  
Like a drum baby don't stop beating  
Like a drum baby don't stop beating  
Like a drum my heart never stops beating for you  
And long after you're gone gone gone  
I love you long after you're gone gone gone**__**"**__**  
**_

After ending the song, Rachel leaned over and kissed Finn on the cheek, with him smiling over at her and they continued driving toward their well-earned week together.

The End

*Gone, Gone, Gone sung by Phillip Phillips*


End file.
